Monthly newsletter - July

Sensible stuff, no quick fixes

Dear colleague

Here are some links that I hope you find helpful:

The impact of ‘Faster Reading’: the impressive increase in reading outcomes found in the University of Sussex research have been replicated with other schools.

If you’d like to see how primary and secondary schools have used the ‘Faster Read’ to raise reading outcomes in their schools, you can watch free on Myatt & Co. And all the films can be listened to on the Myatt & Co app from Google or Apple!

Course updates for the Huh Academy

The courses are all online, self-paced and designed to support curriculum development, leadership and personal development.

I’m delighted to say they are now open for bookings.

Curriculum Leaders: for leaders wanting to refine their curriculum work, with John Tomsett and me. More info here.

Leading the Diverse Curriculum: a very popular course from Hannah Wilson and Bennie Kara for schools wanting to truly diversify the curriculum. More info here.

Building Teams: Lekha Sharma and Sam Crome share the research plus plenty of practical strategies for building great teams. More info here.

Finding My Voice: A light touch, high impact personal development and oracy approach for the whole school. It’s been developed by Rachel Higginson, Emmanuel Awoyelu, Christian Foley and me. More info here.

Being Your Best, Doing Your Best: Created by Dr Emma Kell practical, research-based coaching tools and approaches to promote coaching cultures in schools and promote and enhance self-efficacy, success and job-satisfaction. More info here.

Leadership Lobby: Andrew Morrish and I have curated the most interesting and impactful research to support leadership development. With a combination of recordings from educational leadership researchers and practitioners, together with insights from experience and practical resources to support leadership development. More info here.

Great news that the fifth and final book in the Huh Curriculum series is out in the world! John Tomsett and I have spoken to brilliant leaders about the curriculum for young people in alternative provision. It’s just three years since we started work on the first Huh: Curriculum Conversations between subject and senior leaders. We thought it would be the only one. It’s been a joy to find that schools wanted more, and so Primary Huh, Primary Huh 2 and SEND Huh followed.

Alternative Provision Huh is available to order here.

Steve Willshaw has developed Rooted in Reading, a great resource to encourage pupils to read for pleasure. Steve will be running an online introduction to Rooted in Reading on Wednesday 28th August at 2pm it costs just £5 and includes a pack of 6 relevant reading passports.

For RE colleagues: RExChange is a free online conference convened by Culham St Gabriel’s Trust and supported by the main RE Organisations. It brings together teachers and researchers in an exchange of knowledge and expertise. Friday 18th – Saturday 19th October and you can register here.

The Teachers' Collection is getting some lovely reviews for example:

‘The Teachers’ Collection has been a lifesaver because it has reduced any ambiguity around choosing a high-quality text to support learning across all curriculum areas. The high-quality resources accompanying each book have significantly reduced the workload of all our teaching staff. We also love the CPD videos attached to each book, which are supporting staff to further enhance their curriculum disciplinary knowledge appealing to all (from our ECT to SLT). We already feel it is excellent value for money given the time and effort it is saving.’

Sophie Dent of Fairburn Primary School

I recently did a reading webinar on how we can improve pupils’ comprehension through using high quality texts across the curriculum and you can watch it here.

Finally, one part of my daily routine is to complete the quick questions on Teacher Tapp. Hard to believe that something so quick can provide so many terrific insights! If you’re not using it yet, you can sign up here.

If you think there’s someone who would appreciate this update, you can forward the link here.

Have a good break!

Mary