Ben Preston

You should hear Tim Minchin’s opening song 😂

But I won’t sing it to you cos you have to go to his gig to hear it

Inspired by The Writing Revolution, here's a physics version of but, because, so: readingforlearning.org/2025/06/26/a...

Love that 🤣

1. A story. Please read.
Reposts hugely appreciated on this. You'll see why in a bit.
I was born in Pakistan and lived there until I was 4. My parents worked there as doctors. While we were there we were very close to a couple called Christine and Mike Miles.

EHCPs, J S Mill and the Tyranny of the Majority A few years ago, in the Golden Era of Edu-Twitter, Berny Andrews and I suggested the Department of Education needed a team of philosophers. We were only half joking. Very often the success or failu…

New from me.
Would getting rid of EHCPs make things better?
Maybe. But the risks are huge.
bennewmark.wordpress.com/2025/06/02/e...

I think a lot of science teachers would also be sympathetic to this cause

A fascinating keynote to start the day at #cogscisci from @drgarethbates.bsky.social
He argues that now is the right time to push back a bit and dig underneath (and dissect) the science of learning
Looking in detail at Ebbinghaus and that famous curve (which actually wasn't a curve)

You smashed it. Thank you.

Really pleased I made the effort to get to #CogSciSci today (and thank you @mrarobbins.bsky.social for letting me in 😇)

Great to connect with like minded, hardworking folk obsessed with how to teach well, with a healthy science bias.

And to put the world to rights with @drwilkinsonsci.bsky.social

Your weekend read ↓

Why questioning in lessons often fails (and what to do about it)

#EduBlogUK #EduSky #UKEd

Does setting disadvantage the most disadvantaged students? What does the evidence really tell us?

David Didau has just published a post on this topic (£) - in summary, it’s not about which approach is better, but how it is implemented, that makes the real difference

open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...

I like the idea of shared resources that are focused on well-crafted questions.

Then teachers can focus on planning their explanations and the way they ask and get responses to those questions… food for thought with gained time around the corner!

Well that is always the fear! I’m sure you’re doing a great job though and it’s the quality of teaching and team culture you’re no doubt improving that will have the biggest impact anyway, I reckon!

…the cost of not being able to tailor teaching to different “abilities”.

Overall results have been improving, particularly for lower prior attainers. And that feels like where the biggest leverage is in terms of most difference to the lives of our students. *In this school context*!

As I say, it’s a context dependent choice.

In the school I’m moving to, the setup is different, but the school culture is also world’s apart.

My focus has always been on biggest impact for the lowest prior attainers & most disadvantaged, so the benefit of keeping mixed groups has outweighed…

That’s the main reason. Over the years I’ve seen so many students get stuck in a mindset of “they’re the smart ones”, and teachers inadvertently lowering their expectations. We do have some small nurture groups, but otherwise everyone’s mixed up.

We also stick with mixed ability - KS3 are timetabled in mixed teaching groups for several subjects including science. It’s best for our context, to avoid the students’ “I’m in bottom/top set” mindset.

However I think you make the choice based on your context and school culture. Happy to discuss!

My first action in my current post 7 years ago was changing from end of topic tests to just two summative assessments per year, allowing everyone to focus on teaching better and improving the quality of low stakes, frequent retrieval practice in every lesson.

No complaints, results much better now👍

My first action in my current post 7 years ago was changing from end of topic tests to just two summative assessments per year, allowing everyone to focus on teaching better and improving the quality of low stakes, frequent retrieval practice in every lesson.

No complaints, results much better now👍

Mind The Gap How can we support a more regular and relevant approach to teacher development?

How we’ve tried to make professional development more regular and relevant

open.substack.com/pub/shaunall...

Subject Knowledge: Our Greatest Treasure My reasoning for writing this blog is to champion the cause and case of subject knowledge. Some will question why. Some will cite but that’s so obvious isn’t it or shout out but of course subject k…

New Blog

Subject Knowledge - Our Greatest Treasure

samstrickland384843542.wordpress.com/2025/04/20/s...

Birthday cake decorated with candles and the words “Tax wealth not work”

This year’s birthday cake

Extraordinary blogs with lots of excellent ideas.

Movies you’ve watched more than six times, gifs only

You are not in competition with everyone else The challenge of overcoming the myth of competition, so we can build something better for everyone.

If you feel like you’re competing with everyone, of course you’ll get stuck in “us vs them” thinking. But are you?

Or are we actually, mostly, on the same side?

I wrote about the myth of competition.

open.substack.com/pub/explaini...

Any feedback, here or in the comments, welcome 🙏

I wonder who’s profiting from the use of the AI tools they’re no doubt using to identify offending material 🤔

The Problem With Vaccines When a public health intervention is literally too good.

I was just reading about this

open.substack.com/pub/gidmk/p/...

A bit like Joe Rogan

Couldn’t work out how to find one that I’d used so made my own. Hope it helps!

go.bsky.app/4mX1QYn

Look out for good “starter packs”

I’ll see if I can find you a good one