Stuart Rowntree

Populist flip-flopping is exhausting. We know real progress requires investing in the most vulnerable, but the constant back-and-forth only deepens problems and keeps us stuck in this pitiful cycle we're all trapped in.

Just pull on some big boy pants and get on with it.

Focusing on 'readiness' frames children as the problem. We should be adapting schools to children’s developmental stages and addressing structural inequality, not raising targets.

It's raising the ceiling and ignoring the floor, yet again...

Focus on consistent retrieval, vocab-rich talk and adaptive scaffolding. Build via coaching, shared planning, diagnostic teaching. Success = what pupils recall over time.

Guilty as charged...

Young man talking in young woman's ear meme. Text reads "No Frankenstein actually *is* the monster.

Has anyone used the NFER Reading Tests in their school? Would you be willing to give me a little review? We're looking at updating our suite of assessments and this is one I keep seeing...

Trevor Philips, "What is the implication of the white poppy?"

Zack Polanski, "The white poppy began after WWI, mainly from women's groups, who talked about peace and antifascism"

"So on the same day we remember the fallen, it's also about looking to the future and saying, we want a world of peace"

Easy.

Will definitely be giving this a listen later...

The Staffroom's podcast doors open again with Season 6 Ep 1 on balance in the reading wars. Dominic Wyse and @charliehacking.bsky.social discuss the "double helix" of reading and writing, an approach combining phonics teaching with engaging activities. Listen here:
share.transistor.fm/s/3c03fe84

This really is scintillating Sunday morning discourse...

To be applauded.

(FWIW, I think the new curriculum review does a really good job at not damaging a system that is working while making sensible recommendations for additions)

atlantic article screenshot headline: no one knows how big pumpkins can get sub head: a decade ago, the worlds heaviest pumpkin weighed 2,000 pounds. now the 3,000 pound mark is within sight by yasmin tayag

this headline hums with ancient autumnal dread

Everyone working in primary schools wants to raise standards in reading. For me, the best starting point is Primary Reading Simplified by @suchmo83.bsky.social. It's superb and covers everything, with phonics, fluency, comprehension and RfP all being explored.

I can't find jingoistic, hypocritical, grifting little fascist on here...

Nothing frightens populists more than teachers calmly explaining history and humanity to children. They call it indoctrination because it ruins the grift.

Yes, Nigel, the real danger isn’t poverty, racism or ignorance - it’s teachers daring to teach empathy. How ever will Britain survive?

Pillock.

I’ve made an Ofsted toolkit breakdown with evidence ideas for each section (although there’s no need to prepare evidence for them coming). If you’d like it, drop me a DM. Hopefully no one will!

Educational Review journal title appears at the top. On the left, in white text on a bright blue background is the article title and author name(s): ‘Conditions for continuity: how school working conditions shape teacher retention and job satisfaction’ by Luke C. Miller, Rachel S. White, Daniel W. Player & Amy L. Reynolds. On the right is an image of teacher looking at and reaching towards a drawing of a school.

What keeps teachers in schools? 🏫
New research shows supportive working conditions—esp. strong leadership—boost satisfaction & retention, while unsupportive ones fuel attrition.

Read more 👇
doi.org/10.1080/0013...

#TeacherRetention #EdPolicy

@drrachelswhite.bsky.social
@amyluelle.bsky.social

Nicole McCartney: ‘Good leaders don’t hold the stick over people’s heads’ In our How I Lead series, we ask education leaders to reflect on their careers, their experience and their leadership philosophy. This month, we talk to Nicole McCartney, CEO of Creative Education Trust

'I'm more impressed by someone who can turn a colleague's underperformance into success than by someone who rules with fear': trust CEO @nicolemccartney.bsky.social talks about her leadership philosophy in our latest How I Lead…

Haven't been around on here for a while.

My first half term as a *real* AHT has been breakneck, but I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

How is everyone else?

homer simpson is standing in a grassy field ALT: homer simpson is standing in a grassy field

I've never seen it...

As with almost every article written about reading in the past few years, this one has inspired a few suggestions that the focus on phonics has caused problems.

I'd like to explain why I disagree.

>>

The new money-saving plan: underfund schools further and gut EHCPs until they only cover PMLD.

Translation: strip protection from thousands of autistic, SEMH, SLCN and SpLD children - and dump the cost on schools already on their knees.

Happy days.

American fans’ behaviour toward Europeans at the Ryder Cup shows how far decorum and integrity have collapsed since Trump stripped the nation of the dignity it once had...

Yup.
The rate limiting step in almost every context I've seen is attention. And you need a teacher to direct this. Almost every tech model starts from the wrong point because it assumes children will want to study the material and won't need their attention managed.

So yes, expose all children to the very best: take them to the theatre, watch films, go to the ballet, watch a concert, display the emotion of these wonderful pieces of art. But don’t give them the text and expect them to write an essay on it, because you’ll put them off for life.

30hrs free childcare will ease costs & boost work for some parents, but risks remain: patchy places, underfunded providers, excluded poorest families, quality under strain.

A better equipped and funded early years infrastructure needed.

Helps, yes. Solves, no.

Labour preach about supporting working families, yet won’t lay a serious hand on wealth or capital - the rich stay shielded while parents count pennies for their children in poverty.

Don't just speak big, deliver big.

Offering Trump a UK state visit now is not diplomacy but a statement. In optics and morality, it signals comfort with demagoguery at a moment when democratic norms are strained. Britain should stand for restraint, dignity and the rule of law - not court chaos for ceremony.

Reclaim our dignity.

I've always wanted to visit. Looks like such a stunning place.