In terms of unlocking excellent Teaching and Learning, our vision is simple: to develop efficiency, draw upon evidence and celebrate our subject expertise. I want to explore the notion of celebrating subject expertise and its crucial role in developing high-quality teaching. Why is subject expertise important? Many of us enter the teaching profession because we…

I always knew that my early days as an Assistant Principal would be a challenge but nothing could have prepared me for the start of 2021! No books, talks or imagined scenarios would have readied me for January 4th, my first day, being sat on a Teams call in my…

In terms of unlocking excellent Teaching and Learning, our vision is simple: to develop efficiency, draw upon evidence and celebrate our subject expertise. I want to explore what it is to draw upon evidence and set out what that might look like within our school. Why is evidence important? In my previous blog, I…

In terms unlocking excellent Teaching and Learning, our vision is simple: to develop efficiency, draw upon evidence and celebrate our subject expertise. I want to unpack the idea of developing efficiency and consider the practical implications in the classroom. Why is efficiency important? Investigating the most efficient way to teach has a number of…

Teachers as professional speakers In the early days of my teaching career, I didn’t give my voice much thought, after all, my lessons wouldn’t be dominated by me speaking. This quickly changed as I soon discovered that the more I spoke, the more my students seem to learn! When we think of the voice…

Mayday! Over the past week, I’ve had a few interactions with colleagues both online and in person about difficult classes. In fact, almost every single day I read posts on Twitter and Facebook from teachers struggling to manage a challenging group. Some years ago, I remember writing one of these posts…

When we consider ‘academic drama’, opinion is often split two ways. Some colleagues champion drama as ‘practical’ and believe written work is a threat to the subject. Others embrace the subject academically and promote written work within every lesson. I struggle with both sides. When we focus the debate on…

About 3 years ago, I wrote an opinion piece in The Stage entitled, ‘Radical GCSE drama overhaul risks killing students’ passion’ (yes, I like a dramatic title!) I spoke about my frustration with the increased focus on written assessment in drama. I then set out my plan to teach the…

Have you ever had a brilliant idea for a book and then later discovered that it’s already been written?! That’s how I felt when I came across ‘Simplicity Rules’. As a teacher and middle leader, I am increasingly frustrated with the gimmicks, tricks, and fads we are told will help…