Head of Humanities. History Teacher. Teacher Educator. EDEXCEL Team Leader Weimar and Nazi Germany. NPQSL in progress. Blackburn Rovers and Cricket Enthusiast.
GCSE results are out tomorrow. The data tells you real things, and it can't be trusted on others.
Some thoughts for middle leaders on what to actually claim from your results before drawing conclusions:
https://t.co/8g3AfWugUN
Is study leave fair?
When I worked in middle class schools, Year 11 and 13 were gone from more or less the first week after Easter. By this point in the year, I probably would have had over 20 hours of "gain time" already.
I could have spent that time developing our curriculum, observing others, reading, arriving a bit later, leaving a bit earlier. Having a more relaxed time in lunch and break.
Now, I work in a school where we don't do that. Year 11 are in till the last exam. Year 13 are in till the last exam. The pace doesn't change, in fact it accelerates in this critical pre-exam period. And then, when they're gone, it'll be end of years for everyone else, and I won't have that nice relaxing time to catch up on all the jobs I never had time to do.
This, surely, is a systemic inequality. Schools with "study leave" already have a lot of perks, and get to offer their staff something that schools serving a poorer demographic don't. That doesn't seem fair to me.
Stories do more than engage.
They build knowledge, they deepen vocabulary, and they give pupils access to worlds, people, places and ideas they might not otherwise meet.
That is why story-rich curriculum work matters.
Thoroughly enjoyed leading our trust History QIG today spending 2 hours discussing delivering substantive knowledge in the history classroom in our various settings๐ค
There are 2 fabulous opportunities which have come up in one of our schools. Burnley has a really supportive culture, especially around staff workload & well-being & 100% dedicated to making a diff to the community.
For an informal chat, drop me a DM
https://t.co/QHiMEa0whM
HERE IT IS! ๐and.... just wow ๐
The full programme for TTR Connect 2026 is here and itโs happening this Saturday in Manchester.
So many top teacher talks + brilliant networking opportunities.
You can still grab one of the last remaining FREE tickets ๐
https://t.co/2709fGgUM2
At the end of every year 11 lesson atm I do a loop game of the key core knowledge they need for the three history papers. We time it and they try to beat their score each time. Seeing the answers to the game verbatim win their mocks shows itโs working. ๐ค
@MsGHist About 3 weeks before the exam. We do build in some retrieval and revisit throughout the year but itโs tight. Personally I would rather teach it thoroughly first time than rush through and have to reteach.