Simon Sharp

Headteacher. Chair of Pre School. Passionate about reading and outdoor education.

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

@daisychristo @researchED1 I remember reading it in 2013.

I am STILL telling people this 13 years later.

[Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo]

In 2013, I wrote a book called 7 Myths about Education.

Myth No.5 was about transferable skills.

I've updated my argument for a new @researchED1 project.

All the evidence, historical & scientific, on why you can't teach transferable skills.

https://t.co/ma5P96crDL

[beanie0597_2.0 @0Beanie05923291]

"If we want students to leave school able to think critically about history, they will not meet that goal if we teach them only how to “think like a historian.” We will need to teach them a lot of historical knowledge as well." @daisychristo

[Katharine Birbalsingh @Miss_Snuffy]

No.

But there is something wrong with a change in the system that will allow schools to dump these kids under the ruse that they are ‘seeking a trade’ when the reality is that we have failed them and never taught them to be literate/numerate.

[Paul Kirschner @New_Old_Paul]

In a reaction to a Dutch educational publisher’s ‘bucket list’ for teachers that amounted to changing almost everything in the classroom, my friend and colleague @VerbrugghenGert made a better list and then let ChatGPT remake it in English for me (and you).

[Andrew @dremnik]

continuing my war on paid software that should be free, today's victim is: granola.

quill gives you the same thing for free and completely private, just start recording and after you stop it, the entire audio gets transcribed into a default folder.

completely open source as always

[Amanda Spielman @amanda_spielman]

Useful comparison for England - we actually allocate much less to the summer break than most countries

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

@Headteacherchat That all schemes were bad- they aren’t.

[Ben Kentish @BenKentish]

We encourage state-school educated children from normal backgrounds to aim high and apply to Oxbridge, and then castigate them when they succeed and end up as Cabinet ministers. What message does that send? Answer: if you do well, we’ll portray you as toffs and sell outs, so don’t bother. Drives me mad.

[Anna Stokke @rastokke]

Are we being honest with parents about how their children are doing?

In my latest conversation with Rachel Canter, we discuss why schools shouldn't be afraid to tell parents the truth about student progress and why honest reporting is essential to helping children succeed.

🎧 Link below

#Education #ParentEngagement #StudentSuccess #ChalkandTalk

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

This photo of our largest sunflower is most definitely real and not AI!

[Sophie Bartlett @_MissieBee]

Not sure why there isn’t more outrage about this, unless I’ve not seen it??

I went off on this little rant in my analysis of the Reading SATs paper (link below) and SHOCK, this situation has come true

🧵 THREAD 👇🏼

https://t.co/KPwGL11FjL

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

@WoodMeena @EducatingSooty How do you think you teach language comprehension?

[Dr Siobhan Sanders @SiobhanParker11]

In January we were judged 'Needs Attention' for Achievement.
6 months later, our Year 6 SATs are over 80% in R/W/M/SPaG.
What changed?
Not the teaching.
Not the curriculum.
Not the leadership.
The cohort.
Context matters. Judging schools by results, not progress, is the problem

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

@Suchmo83 @Headteacherchat Some of us are trying to change this! It is so important!

[Christopher Such @Suchmo83]

Most primary schools do not appropriately prioritise the development of reading fluency (via scaffolded reading practice) and the development of mental arithmetic (via number fact automaticity allied to place value understanding) in their academic curriculum.

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

@ThinkReadHQ I think what appears to be controversial is when you say to people that actually we should invest more time actually teaching reading in schools because we have too many children who can't.

[Thinking Reading @ThinkReadHQ]

Is it controversial to say all children in our mainstream state education system should leave school able to read well? We discuss this in our podcast "Inside the Reading Gap" - why it isn't happening, the impact it has & the solution.  Available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

@ICT_MrP School is there to educate it isn’t childcare. Thank you!

[Simon Sharp @SimonSharpHead]

Reading should be timetabled in the Primary curriculum. Not just until phonics is done. Not as part of a wider English lesson. For its own sake. As educatirs, reading is the greatest gift we can give children. We must prioritise it.