Sam Strickland
@Strickomaster
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Principal/CEO, FCCT, IL and NITE Trust Board Member, martial artist, historian, Behaviour Hub lead, educational author
Northampton
Joined January 2018
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Pinned Tweet
The Behaviour Manual
Released today
Get your copy here:
The Behaviour Manual: An Educator's Guidebook
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I really do not understand the thinking when schools say to staff that attending a funeral/major event will be unpaid or it has to be really close family to allow you to go. Staff routinely give up so so much of their time doing extra. This archaic thinking is poor.
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Teaching is taxing. Every day staff are expected to deliver endless performances to children. It’s theatre. It’s panto. You have to know your stuff. You have to be on it. You have to control the room. You have to pre-empt misconceptions. It’s an art. Don’t underestimate it.
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@rupertevelyn
Schools are currently not shut, their role has simply changed. Those teachers at home are glued to laptop screens, working all day & have worked through their Easter break. They’re endlessly checking on key pupils. They will invariably work through the summer as well.
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If Ofsted were to be reformed the following would be good moves:
- An annual safeguarding health check
- A financial health check
- A school improvement discussion, where priorities are reviewed, with actual support given where necessary
- No gradings
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The pupils who seem to succeed in their exams by & large:
Work hard
Revise
Attend school
Listen
Behave
Follow instructions
Hardly rocket science
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@rupertevelyn
Question back. Teachers are paid to work 195 days/yr & against their pay slip 32.5hrs/wk...should they be putting in massive overtime claims for working evenings, Easter, bank holiday Easter weekend (double time is the norm in the private sector), May Half Term, the summer?
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Teacher pay in the UK is reported as the lowest of all OECD countries.
I’ve had people criticise me for talking about teacher pay. However, if we want quality teachers in front of children (& lots of them) and value their education then money talks.
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The recent spate of protesting about school rules, immediately contacting Ofsted, contacting the press, launching social media protests…. it has to stop. Schools have to have systems & rules. Otherwise they become chaotic. Heads cannot feel as though they are unable to lead.
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So, very genuinely, what are schools actually being asked to do?
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Invariably the length of summer holidays will surface again in the next few weeks. With people citing they’re too long.
I think this is probably the only remaining ace the profession has up its sleeve.
I’ll just leave this graphic here…..
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Behaviour….
Why are the needs of 1 pupil placed over and above the needs of 29 others who want to learn. Not enough is made nor said about this by some.
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As a leader it’s important to ask yourself four questions before you ask something of others:
A: Would you do it yourself?
B: Can you actually do it yourself?
C: What is the clear rationale behind it & can you justify it?
D: Are you prepared to lead by example?
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The irony of potentially being phoned on a Friday for an Ofsted inspection on a Monday, therefore ruining an entire staffing bodies weekend when staff are striking over pay, funding, workload & wellbeing isn’t lost.
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Year in, year out, the pupils who do well in exams ….
Routinely attend school
Listen
Do their homework
Revise
Work hard
By & large behave & follow instructions
Read around the subject
It’s not a magic formula but most of the time hard work pays off.
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Catch-up..... whatever this means....
Why aren’t we thinking about free books for children, youth clubs (remember those!), free museum passes, streamlining the curriculum to focus on basics first..... not racing at 1000mph & tracking everything within an inch of its life
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It is possible to absolutely love the job you do but also point out that there are workload issues that need addressing. Citing the latter doesn’t mean you are moaning or dislike your job.
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INSET days are not some magical duvet day where the profession gets to watch Netflix for the day. Just politely putting it out there for those uncertain about what they are. They’re high level training events requiring a lot of planning.
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Recently I was criticised for championing the teacher as the expert in the room. If the teacher isn’t the expert who is? If the teacher isn’t the expert we have a major issue. If leaders don’t champion teachers who will!!
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I keep being asked how to teach PP pupils & improve their progress…
My view, PP pupils learn in the same way as all the other pupils. They aren’t somehow less able. It’s part of a whole-school improvement drive. Improve everything & PP pupils will do just fine.
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School ‘closure’
I think it’s important we remember in real terms we’ve been ‘closed’ for 2 weeks, the rest was Easter. We have worked in a way over Easter arguably like never before. Equally school doors are still open to key worker & vulnerable children. We’re not shut.
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As we think about September the priorities should be:
Safeguarding/health & safety of all
Let the staff teach
Simple rules
Highly visible SLT
Strip out the endless meetings
Ltd assessments
Be wary of intervention insanity
Teach teach teach
It will be a marathon not a sprint
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School improvement in a simple tweet
- Sort behaviour
- Invest in staff CPD
- Build relationships
- Sort your curriculum
- Keep communication simple
- Look after the school community
- Don’t complicate things
- Keep to a minimal number of priorities
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With just a week to go before most schools close for Xmas I think it’s important to remember that staff & leaders are shattered. It’s been a very tough year. Acts of kindness as we hit the last stretch could go a long way.
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Arguably the current Yr11/13 cohorts are the most negatively impacted on since the pandemic began yet so far nothing appears to be in place to reflect this come their exams. Baffling
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Every single day teachers have to make hundreds of decisions, some within a split second. This requires skill, practice & expertise to perfect. We should never downplay this.
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Lots about pupils needing “soft starts” come September. I’d argue we don’t need to waste invaluable & finite time. Yes we need to be there for our pupils but they need consistency, routines & to be taught.
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I find it intriguing how even in a pandemic people who don’t work in schools, or haven’t for a very long time, continue to tell those of us that do how to do our job.
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Basic class expectations
Pupils should do/be…
On time
Equipped
Dressed appropriately
Polite
Listen
Work hard
Respectful
Do their best
Follow instructions
These should be basic expectations
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There is a very serious set of points here:
Heads find out decisions at the same time as everyone else, not before
The messaging is often unclear
Heads need to be certain of what’s expected if they are to lead with clarity & purpose
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I find it staggering how during the second half of lockdown the rationale for opening schools swiftly was the narrative around the disadvantaged BUT now those same pupils won’t be given FSM vouchers in the holidays...
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The messaging around “staying at home” is surfacing more and more. Maybe it’s time to readdress the key worker categories so fewer children are physically in-school.
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Why does CPD take place at 3.30/4pm when people are shattered?
#ResearchEDN
@unleashing_me
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The average salary of a train driver looks set to be £60-65k. The average salary of a teacher is allegedly £40k approx (assuming they’ve worked in the game for 6/7 ish years). We wonder why there is a recruitment & retention crisis….
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In shops signs like this are commonplace. No one batters an eyelid at the ZT statement. When we talk about this in schools & say teachers shouldn’t be abused it’s almost as if a sin has been committed in the eyes of some. I find it bizarre.
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Comparing school’s pre/post pandemic is like comparing apples & pears
Headship isn’t the same
Leadership isn’t the same
Pastoral/safeguarding aren’t the same
Teaching isn’t the same
It’s a different ball game
The veneer is similar but under the surface not comparable
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I genuinely hope catch-up doesn’t turn into an intervention circus. Why isn’t the focus on ensuring high quality in-class delivery, exceptional CPD & driving behaviour so time in school isn’t lost? This would have the greatest impact.
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I’ve seen comments that the holidays are a perk or that we are lucky to have them. They are deserved for the endless hard work that teachers put in during term time, working often in excess of 50 plus hrs/week. Please don’t downgrade this.
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Very genuinely are we investing too much energy in remote learning? It feels like an arms race once again. Pupils will return to school with mixed experiences & gaps in knowledge regardless. Should we be thinking just as much about what we do with our pupils upon their return?
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You cannot talk curriculum, pedagogy and teaching/learning with any real degree of confidence nor conviction until a positive culture and climate of behaviour is in place. Otherwise you’re building on sand.
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Pupil Premium strategies that have no impact....
Marking PP books first
Questioning PP pupils first
Creating Venn diagrams & discussing for hrs the PP pupils
Giving them all a book to read
Bespoke trip packages
False rewards
Differentiation
Rewards to attend school
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As the calls for schools to resume service as usual grow let’s remember that we are asking millions of people who aren’t vaccinated to mix once more. What’s changed since January & the section 44 call to arms?
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I’m guessing that is an end to rapid testing in schools.....
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School attendance….
I think there needs to be a realisation that schools can only do so much. Not all parents value education. It’s only a day or two is a thing. The Friday phenomena is a thing. Term time holiday requests exploding is a thing.
Challenging
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It’s all very well saying teachers should be grateful for their lot but there is hardly a queue of people looking to join the profession & we face a potential mass exodus. That says a lot…
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Behaviour…
So much is made of the pupils who are suspended/excluded but people don’t seem as keen to listen to the views of victims, kids who have their lessons ruined & teachers who can’t teach or are abused…..
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Here’s what the teaching profession did do…
Stayed open to keyworker/vulnerable children
Opened more widely in a phased manner
Opened fully & worked hard, professionally & diligently, without adequate PPE
Navigated remote learning with zero notice
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Back to school routines…
Get straight into teaching your lessons. Don’t waste endless amounts of time with these are my expectations, book admin etc. The expectations comes from you’re here to learn, let’s crack on & do just that. Then you can teach the expectations as you go.
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Speaking to children in several schools this week they all cited the exact same thing when asked what they wanted in their teachers…
For them to be strict, to care & to directly teach them not send them off on research activities that simply waste time.
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The ECF framework truly is poor, a straightjacket & no more than a tick box approach that causes a lot of pointless work. I was hopeful at first but have to say ECTs have been truly let down but what is a poorly designed load of tosh.
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The more I read, and I’ve read some cracking books in all fairness, the more I think we overcomplicate teaching, behaviour, curriculum, school improvement etc.
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Restorative chats
A pupil breaks a really clear school rule, clearly & deliberately disrupts the learning….. what exactly is a teacher restoring?
Sounds compelling as an ideal.
In reality, a huge drain on teacher time for little actual benefit.
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I know many people use / like staff questionnaires
Currently I’m meeting every member of staff 1:1 and talking about
- Their welfare
- What have I got wrong
- Their CPD needs
- Their career plans (short term)
- Anything I can help with
I do this every year. Far more useful
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I still see flight paths used, with children in Year 7 being given GCSE grades, eg a 5. Why? This is poor, redacts the curriculum, sets up false narratives about what a child may achieve in Yr11, often caps expectations. Everything about this approach is just flawed.
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A recovery curriculum is a red herring. The term itself is flawed. If we thought this already worked we would all be doing it. I worry about a circus of intervention come the autumn.
Consolidate what they should have learnt & teach teach teach
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Thought for the day...ditch lesson objectives. Must, should, could etc dampen (at best) expectations. Instead use an aspirational big question for all.
Whispers..... pupils writing objectives down is a total waste of time!
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Becoming SLT too early on, especially as an ECT, is setting people up for a fall. You wouldn’t wake up one morning, run a marathon & advise others how. That takes endless incremental training, with errors made/setbacks endured & then run the marathon before you can advise others.
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Sadly Headship, whilst an amazing job, is incredibly pressured. Until your name is above the door & on the report you can only really speculate about the role.
It is heartbreaking that an inspection outcome has caused this to happen.
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SLANT isn’t controversial. Essentially we are asking kids to sit up, stop messing around, focus & listen to the teacher. If that’s draconian then teaching really is in a funny state. No wonder kids misbehave if expectations are so low.
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I still hold that the key driver that makes the biggest difference in a school improvement journey is behaviour. Get this right and you can unlock everything.
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It really grates with me when teachers are told to curb their verbal input in lessons. You have an expert in the room and you want to silence them. Madness
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Let’s not slam the results pupils receive this week. The methodology isn’t their fault. They don’t need the stigma of being called a Covid cohort. They worked hard over the duration of their course/s, as did teachers, as did schools… despite untimely messaging & a pandemic.
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Manners
Teachers shouldn’t have to barter for this to be the norm. When manners go in schools they then go within communities.
Teachers should be afforded a baseline of respect.
Children in schools are not customers. They’re not purchasing anything.
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I’ve seen more Covid disruption in the last two weeks than through the course of much of this academic year (and that in itself hasn’t been great).
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I don’t dispute children should be in school. However, the profession hasn’t stopped since March. It has been full on. This is a sensible move. What will we do if there is no one left to teach or run/lead schools as we are all burnt out & potentially won’t have an Xmas...
Welsh council to shut all schools a week early on December 9
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Leadership is about protecting staff from nonsense and allowing teachers to teach without the distraction of endless white noise & red tape
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This should never happen with a major public exam. I appreciate the board have apologised/sought to rectify the error but a bad question like this can throw some pupils for an entire exam. Where was the QA? Not good enough.
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I wonder how long it will be before there’s an article about a school upholding it’s uniform expectations at the start of the academic year & how a parent sent their child in anything but the actual uniform & don’t like the school’s response.
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Every Head I speak to cites huge staff absences at present. Schools are always hard this time of year but this winter term feels much harder than usual. This is more than what can we do about workload.
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I still struggle to truly see the point of staff attending end of day restorative chats. If rules are explicitly clear, pupils know what’s permissible and what’s not then most restoratives are wasting teacher finite time.
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I can’t remember my pen, homework, PE kit, to tuck my shirt in etc
But
I can remember my mobile
Just saying
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There are some very poor stances, sadly from within the profession itself, about teacher pay. A positive mindset won’t pay someone’s mortgage. Pay is a real issue. Yes so is workload, accountability etc too. But pay is a big concern & a reason for teaching shortages
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The sad reality is behaviour is an issue in schools. Pupils cannot simply do what they want, when they want & how they want. There have to be clear rules. Those against them have little clue as to how schools operate.
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There is a fundamental difference between being a ‘behaviour specialist’ who interacts solely with 1 child at a time, in a 1:1 situation, with a pre-arranged appointment vs managing the same 30 children all day every day or 30 new pupils every lesson. Incomparable
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Behaviour...
Not all behaviour is an unmet need. Sometimes some pupils take a strong dislike toward another pupil & seek to make their life hell, for no real reason other than because they feel they can.
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It is worth remembering that the current Year 11 and 13 (who have never sat exams before) have suffered huge disruption to their learning, yet been offered no mitigations to compensate. Today, in some subjects, grade thresholds are stiffer than 2019. I find this staggering.
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I firmly hold that behaviour is the key to unlocking a school’s culture, curriculum (it is an integral part of the curriculum), learning, the ability to teach & everyone’s welfare. Without this key in place you are building on sand.
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If petrol prices continue to rise much further I can see schools having to seriously consider how staff can work flexible & remotely a day a week moving forwards.
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To those who say rules are bad, sanctions are bad, isolation is bad, suspension is bad etc...
Come work in a school. Teach some highly challenging classes. Then come back to the table.
It's all too easy to throw uninformed bricks at the profession.
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Term time holidays…
There used to be a 10 day discretion rule that Heads could use. Not all will agree but I think this needs to come back & schools shouldn’t be penalised for these absences. The financial trade off of saving £2.5k on a holiday v a fine isn’t rocket science.
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Things many private schools do that seem to work…
Teach traditionally
Set by ability
Set lots of HW
Work shorter terms
Lots of extra curricular
Really push reading
I appreciate context etc but I always find these points interesting
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What’s not really talked about is teacher absence through burnout, workload, mental health issues, ill health, Long Covid. When schools are being held to account, especially over results, will this be considered? I think the impact of this is significant across the sector.
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Issuing pupils with target grades…
I remain unconvinced this does any good
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If there’s a real desire to address the workload of leaders then one area would be to put GCSE/Post 16 results in the same week &/or into term time. Every summer they rip out 2 weeks of the break - perhaps not in school but in terms of headspace.
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I think it’s all too easy to forget the core role of a class teacher… to teach. The expectations placed on class teachers can, in some settings, be utterly unrealistic.
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When we hit the new year consider the following…
- Routines are key
- Expectations mean everything
- Build relationships
- Slow the curriculum down
- Ignore catch-up as a concept, it’s a red herring
- Don’t instantly engage in retrieval
- Get straight into actual teaching
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Teaching is one of the most skilled jobs imaginable, with every single second presenting a new & potentially challenging situation. The level of nuance is incomparable to many other jobs. You can’t just have someone off the streets come & have a go at it. It takes yrs to master.
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Open evenings for Year 7 places…..
I don’t really get them. Surely parents would rather see a school in operation in the day? This also saves staff another late night.
Just my own view.
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World Book Day…
Without wanting to sound like a killjoy parents being asked to spend loads of money to dress their child up as Harry Potter won’t substitute for children actually reading books & being read to.
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I’ve heard a few times that the pandemic hasn’t had that big an impact on education.
I couldn’t disagree more.
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All schoolchildren at once? Staff not vaccinated? I really don’t want to ‘open’ & then close again. Wouldn’t we best placed waiting until after Easter & vaccinating everyone working in schools. This requires a cautious approach. The pressure to open seems to ignore the science?
All schoolchildren will return to the classroom on March 8 under plans to start lifting the lockdown, Boris Johnson will announce in a national address next week.
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Longer school days…
Anyone seen …
How tired children in EYFS are come 1.30pm
How behaviour dips post lunch in many secondaries due to tiredness
That there’s an R & R crisis & this won’t help retain nor recruit teachers & flies in the face of addressing workload
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You can have clear systems, clear sanctions & the uses of suspension/exclusion AND still have warmth, care and positive relationships with children
They’re not separate entities
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Still the narrative spun is that schools have been closed this year. They haven’t. They were never actually closed at any point.
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In my experience children with trauma, additional needs & SEN do not want school environments that are chaotic. They need routine, consistency & order.
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School staff don’t go to work to be sworn at. When schools offer an inert response & refuse to suspend is it any wonder that morale nose dives & people leave the school / profession
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Currently meeting every single member of staff for a 1:1. Focus = how they are, how they want their role to evolve, what CPD they need, what have I got wrong, how they now view the school.
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So many people want to tell schools what to do, many from uninformed positions eg exclusions. Until you sit in the chair & have to make the decisions, have your name above the door & be accountable then politely you are speculating at best.
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People who doubt teachers work in the evenings, weekends & holidays need to shadow a teacher. This isn’t about poor leadership. This is a reality of the job. Lessons don’t just plan themselves. Yes we can have workbooks at a secondary level but they need planning too.
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