A whole year has now passed since I set up this headguruteacher blog. And what a year it has been! The whole world of twitter and blogging has turned out to be far more rewarding, both professionally and personally, than I ever imagined. I am amazed that, just in time for this first anniversary, the … Continue reading
My personal remembrance assembly: This assembly is partly about the remembrance day ceremonies that will be carried out around the world on 11th November, in remembrance of those who died in WW1, WW2 and war in general. It is also about the personal nature of remembrance for me and for others…… Remembrance Day is just … Continue reading
Reblogged from @ TeacherToolkit: This post answers the 5th question from my TeacherToolkit Thinking page of Thunks. You can see my other top-Thunks here. Thunk 5: My first term as Headteacher, by Tom Sherrington (@HeadGuruTeacher). Arriving as Head of a school is daunting. In my case, the school was already Outstanding, had just had great … Continue reading
The story of the last week has been about English GCSE and the mess that has been made of the grading. ‘Only’ 1.5% fewer grades at A*-C were awarded compared to 2011 but still this represents thousands of young people affected and hundreds of schools. The analysis by Daniel Stucke is superb, showing how the … Continue reading
It is a strong conviction of mine that far too many students are systematically under-challenged at school. It starts from day one and carries on from there – simply because a) some teachers do not take enough account of what students learn elsewhere and b), even if they do, they find it difficult to cope … Continue reading
Exams have finished; it’s all over bar the shouting. Students have hung up their pencil cases and we’re all waiting for the verdict; judgement day. It is extraordinary how much rides on this process given how creaky and precarious the whole enterprise feels at times. For schools there is the ritual farce of single-measure rankings … Continue reading
The issue of the week has been CPD. As we look ahead to next year, planning the way forward for professional development is a dominant theme. What could be more important? I’ve had five key meetings in the last week: 1) a meeting with Sue Brindley from Cambridge University, exploring a research framework for our … Continue reading
I have tried to encapsulate the experience of arriving at KEGS in my post ‘From Comp to Grammar; Plantation to Rainforest’ . I firmly believe that the everyday experience for students at KEGS is far richer in terms of depth and challenge than that they would find in most schools. The purpose of sharing this … Continue reading
I always think that if you want to criticise an idea, you really should be prepared to offer a better one. So far in the debate stirred up by Michael Gove’s back-door announcement of a return to O Levels, there has been very little in the way of serious evaluation of competing alternatives – and … Continue reading
My Y5 son had one of those lovely awakenings recently, marveling at the extraordinary fact of our existence on Earth. This followed two events. One was a trip to the superb Darwin Centre in the Natural History Museum which tells the story of evolution brilliantly well. The second was the moment I woke him and … Continue reading
