Rachel Rayner

This is the kind of book I'd love to read aloud in class. It's beautifully written and really evokes the atmosphere of the original Frankenstein novel. Gorgeous illustrations too... @walkerbooksuk.bsky.social #EduSky

I have been waiting for this - some really great people have worked on it and am hopeful it distils what we can place bets on. Summer reading taken care of - great timing

It’s so beautiful this time of year. 🙂

Life’s good

What a pleasure to meet @douglemov.bsky.social alongside @ashleymartin26.bsky.social and the East100 cohort.

This man has had a bigger impact on my teaching practice than anyone else I could name. Ratio rules.

Have been out outish. On the way home the main discourse on the train is what is awaiting folks in their fridges. One man has lamented “an abundance and f cheese but no pickle”.

Congrats Carly.

It’s not about more work

It’s about planning the curriculum through a different lens.

A new project Key Stage 3: The Ambitious Years

I’ll be talking more on this webinar: Thurs 27 March 4-5pm, access with annual or group films.myattandco.com/programs/web...

I’m delighted Sir Hamid Patel has been elected Chairman of Ofsted. His track record speaks for itself. He also showed me immense kindness whilst surrounded by edu-greats on an DfE consultation group. He has emotional intelligence, empathy and sensitivity - all qualities valuable at Ofsted I reckon.

That’s appalling to hear. He’s a brilliant educator with great belief and pride in the children his team educate.

Really pleased to have launched this today at @ascl-uk.bsky.social.

Please do share/engage - we're hoping to build a national resource which shares examples of good practice that exist in the system.

Heads open up about torrent of abuse from parents Leaders confronted outside their homes, spat at and 'offered-out' for fights

📈 Exclusive: School leaders have been confronted outside their homes, spat at and 'offered out' for fights as abuse from parents surges, a Schools Week investigation can reveal

“It is “conceptually problematic” for support for the mental health of a child with SEMH needs to be delivered only within an educational context and not a health context,”

The SW investigation might be the most important one they've ever run. It's an incredible piece of work and the results are truly shocking. Everyone should read it.

I’ve been digging into the quality of EHCPs, plans that parents are dragged through court sometimes to obtain, and that are bankrupting councils

What’s actually in them? Are they good quality? Personalised? Include interventions backed by evidence? Are they fully funded?

The answer often is no

Investigation: How EHCPs fail our most vulnerable children England now spends nearly £11 billion providing education for children with additional needs. But what does the funding in EHCPs actually get spent on?

Special investigation: Interventions lacking evidence, copy and paste plans, health and social care missing - Schools Week reveals how EHCPs are failing vulnerable children

Go smash it

📸 No one follows more etiquette rules than the Royal Family—but notice how King Charles didn’t make any smart-ass or demeaning comments about Zelensky’s attire today.

Why? Because respect isn’t about clothes—it’s about character. And that’s something money can’t buy.

sometimes a picture tells a thousand words

Throughout my teaching career I was given bad advice about dyslexia, including...

+ Sit all dyslexic pupils at the front because they inevitably have issues with attention.

+ Teach them to recognise words as whole units rather than teaching them to decode.

+ Give them coloured overlays.

Etc

>>

Cheese platter with a cheese called Rachel

Apparently Rachel is slightly pungent and sharp. Rude

“In everyday conversation we might talk about something being as ‘easy as one-two-three’. But for young children, learning to count isn’t so easy.”

@juliangrenier.bsky.social explores two practices for developing children’s early understanding of numbers.

Read more: eef.li/3wMtgw

I think we managed to fit a whole week of days into Wednesday.

Word of the day is ‘hibernacle’ (18th century): a hibernating animal’s winter retreat.

I believe it works on a human level too.

I would love a copy of Tyger. I’ve loved reading Varjak Paw to my classes.

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!! I'm not on social media a lot right now, working very hard on my new book, trying to get it done in less than 9 years this time! In the meantime, I'm giving away signed copies of all my books so far. Repost & follow to enter, & say which one you'd like - closes Dec 14! #KidLitUK

A compilation of teacher thoughts under each SWOT heading

Enjoying working on review and retrieval with our teacher team. Pulling out thoughts around retrieval, strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats to good retrieval tasks after reading various perspectives. @profcoe.bsky.social @teacherhead.bsky.social @katejonesteach.bsky.social