OFSTED and Schools

OFSTED And Schools; Healing the Rift It has become increasingly obvious to me and to others that the relationship between schools and OFSTED needs to be re-balanced. The heart-felt responses and the original article by Geoff Barton in the TES recently1 underline this. I also believe that the year ahead is a perfect storm in […]

Is it time to re-think the use of Learning Objectives?

Is it Time to re-think our use of Learning Objectives ? For many years I have been encouraging schools to re-think the often non-negotiable policy of writing a ‘learning objective’ or ‘learning intention’ on the board at the start of the lesson, and of requiring children to copy it into their books. I have even […]

The Problem with Hannah’s Sweets

  Much has been spoken, posted and tweeted about this year’s Edexcel maths GCSE, specifically the question about Hannah’s sweets.   This morning on Sunrise (Sky News, 9:40am) I will be talking about how to tackle the question.   So – was it too hard or was it perfectly fair? The answer isn’t as simple […]

A View of the German Wings Tragedy

Hmm. Alongside my immense sadness at the German Wings tragedy, I am anxious that depression does not become demonised due to the diagnosis of the co-pilot. Lots of people suffer from this illness – but this doesn’t make them mass-murderers. What it does (sometimes) make them is anxious,bad decision-makers, but this incident does not look like […]

Childhood Heroes!

Should you meet them?! Sometimes, no. But in this particular case, a resounding YES! I grew up with ‘Think of a Number’, a programme we desperately need back on our TV screens IMO. Johnny Ball was a stand-up comedian playing nightclubs and comedy clubs in the 1960s when he got his big break and started a […]

OFSTED Support for Mastery

This is seriously good news from someone I respect hugely, and yes, she works for OFSTED! Guidance given to ALL inspectors will ensure that teachers do not have to fear what will be made of teaching the whole class together.  Here is a quote from a news report, published today on the NCETM website: “Jane […]