School Improvement Update - September

September 2024

September 27, 2024

Sensible stuff, no quick fixes

Dear colleague

Here are some links that I hope you find helpful:

Anyone who’s followed my work will know that I believe that stories can power up the curriculum. Here’s an excellent resource from Shammi Rahman for Herts for Learning: Black History Month: Using real stories in the primary school classroom.

On Myatt & Co, we have a collection of films to support colleagues looking to develop diversity within the curriculum, for whole school, primary and secondary. If you aren’t already a subscriber, you can access free for 7 days.

Hannah Wilson and Bennie Kara, Co-Founders of #DiverseEd have a popular self-paced course Leading the Diverse Curriculum, more info here.

There are some very powerful insights on ‘Masculinity in Schools’ a new collection on Myatt & Co, where Matt Pinkett shares his research and practical strategies in conversation with Steve Willshaw. (£/free trial)

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 on the programme here.

Rachel and I did a webinar about developing a ‘Fingerprint Culture’ in schools and you can watch the recording here.

Developing subject knowledge

While primary colleagues have always had to juggle the demands of teaching many subjects, it turns out that many secondary teachers are increasingly teaching subjects outside their areas of specialism.

Even if we have a specialist background, subject knowledge development is always on the agenda as far as professional learning is concerned. We are working to support this gap in a number of ways:

First, it’s helpful to read what other colleagues are doing in their subjects. I’m a great believer in the power of bouncing ideas around, and it’s easier to do this if we’ve got something to get our teeth into, to begin with!

If I’m teaching geography in primary and I’d like some ideas, I can go to the geography chapter from Primary Huh, it’s free to access and then spend five minutes reading what Tom Brassington has to say. It’s one of the 4 steps through the curriculum, free to access on The Teachers’ Collection.

If I’m teaching geography in secondary, it’s helpful to see how someone else goes about developing the subject in their context. In this case, secondary colleagues go to the 5 steps across geography and read what Dr David Preece has to say.

Again it’s free to access and the chapters are available across all the subjects.

On Myatt & Co we have films and to support developing subject knowledge through the primary and secondary subject networks. Free trial for 7 days

St Michael’s Aldbourne Reading Showcase: Wednesday 9th October 9-12. If you are near Swindon, this is well worth checking out. ‘The reading strategies at St Michael’s are quite superb. If you get the chance, go take a look!’ according to Tom Sherrington. I’ve also visited the school, and it’s work on reading is stunning.

The Transforming Education Alliance is a new initiative from Bedrock Learning and I’ll be speaking at the Alliance launch on Tuesday 15th October 4pm: Curriculum rocket fuel: unleashing the power of language. It’s free to access, you can register here.

There’s a new heads programme from the brilliant leader, Sajid Gulzar in partnership with ASCL. It’s suitable for heads in the first 3 years of headship and experienced deputies ready for the big job! The programme goes beyond theoretical frameworks and addresses real-life challenges that school leaders face daily, from managing staff and parental relationships to fostering an inclusive, ethical leadership culture in challenging times. More info here.

I rate Adam Boxer’s work and he has online webinars available:

Course updates for the Huh Academy

The courses are 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.

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

The Teachers' Collection is getting some lovely reviews for example from Sophie Dent, of Fairburn Primary School:

‘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.’

Here are some free examples for you to try.

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.

Until next time

Mary