By Andy | April 28, 2020 | 0 Comment
Schools are now around 3 weeks into school closures and different attempts at implementing remote learning strategies. Whilst it’s very much still early days, I think it is reasonable for us to begin to reflect on what we might learn from the experience. I’m privileged to be leading a school which had a well established […]
Continue ReadingBy Andy | April 16, 2020 | 2 Comment
There has been so much talk online about how we must learn from these events, how education must change, and how things will never be the same again… And of course we must learn from these tragic events, but the real question is what are we learning? Responses by schools up and down the country […]
Continue ReadingBy Andy | January 2, 2020 | 1 Comment
The idea that schools run essentially on the good will of staff who are willing to go above and beyond their contractural obligations is a concept well established. The real question is why are some so willing to give their time and energy so freely? I recently read an article from the Harvard Business Review […]
Continue ReadingBy Andy | December 2, 2018 | 0 Comment
I believe it’s essential that as schools we think carefully and plan our process for developing the leadership potential in our young people. The ability to lead, and be led, is such a key skill that it can’t be left to chance! I wrote about this, and a conference on student leadership which I put […]
Continue ReadingBy Andy | September 9, 2018 | 0 Comment
School’s offer a broad range of opportunities and activities to engage and enrich the experience of their students. Each has there place and provide important development opportunities. That’s not to say you can’t develop these skills through different activities (I actually think there’s a huge amount of similarity between the educational value of music as […]
Continue ReadingBy Andy | June 3, 2018 | 2 Comment
This article follows on from a series I wrote earlier in the year exploring whether student leadership in schools should be a right or a privilege: Student Leadership – A Right or a Privilege? – Part 1 Student Leadership – A Right or a Privilege? – Part 2 Student Leadership – A Right or a […]
Continue ReadingBy Andy | January 3, 2016 | 0 Comment
I’ve been thinking a lot over the last year about the purpose and effectiveness of the traditional annual performance review which is a common part of most schools. Appraisal in its current form in most schools lends its origins to the 1986 Education Act, which made it compulsory for maintained schools to undertake some form of performance review. […]
Continue ReadingBy Andy | April 7, 2013 | 1 Comment
This is the question posed by Daniel Willingham in Chapter 7 of his excellent book “Why don’t Students Like School?” This is a very trendy and topical question which has been making its way through schools in various guises for the last 10 years. Willingham however takes a very different approach to most by using […]
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