Heidi Jones | The Education Ground

English Teacher | Reading Lead | NPQLL | studying MA Education (Keele)

Exploring education through research, reflection and thoughtful questions.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

Another reading test. Another score. But what will we actually learn?

Taking a closer look at the new statutory Year 8 reading assessment — what it is for, what it might tell us, and what happens next.

Putting Reading to the Test.

https://t.co/cvMHcGz7Jk

[Adam Boxer @adamboxer1]

First up, webinars. Every year, thousands of teachers join our webinars on behaviour, questioning, leadership and more. Each one takes days to put together and is delivered in our signature interactive style.

This year, they are...

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FREE

Yes, you heard that right. Free. A gift. From us, to you.

There will be additional VIP webinars for Carousel Teaching subscribers that cover even more ground, but the core offering is completely free.

You're welcome. Now read on.

https://t.co/73HUjUvu3k

>

[Vic Goddard @vicgoddard]

First two English re-marks are back. Increased by 12 and 16 marks. A difference of two grades from 3 to 5. How on earth are we supposed to know which grades to get checked? Report says clerical error. Why doesn’t that trigger a recall of all marks by that marker? Not good enough

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

As a teacher with 23 years’ experience and parent of a child with SEND (EHCP), this third pitfall resonates.

There’s a distinction between removing barriers to learning and removing challenge.

Are we adapting access to ambitious learning, or adapting our expectations?

[Alex Quigley @AlexJQuigley]

💡 NEW POST 💡

'The End of the Knowledge-rich Era'

https://t.co/P7PmY7FIEL

[Kat Howard @SaysMiss]

As with all initiatives, value only comes as a result of adequate funding and robust implementation.

[Jamie Clark @XpatEducator]

In a recent newsletter poll, 92 teachers told me what stops them using mini-whiteboards consistently…

41% already use them regularly.

40% blamed logistics. Dried-out pens, boards going missing.

Only 13% cited routines or not knowing what to ask.

Barely anyone is stuck on the pedagogy. They’re stuck on the stationery cupboard.

Read the post here: https://t.co/Q11Vs7xSBK

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

A reading culture isn’t built through tokenistic DEAR or an annual World Book Day events. Both have value, but reading must be embedded in the fabric of school life.

The goal? Not a day, a year or even a decade of reading — but fostering readers for life.

[National Literacy Trust @Literacy_Trust]

🗣️ The National Year of Reading should extend to a decade, inquiry says.

Today's Education Select Committee report sets out a bold vision for reading, including a National Reading Guarantee, universal school libraries and a lasting reading legacy.

More: https://t.co/HSTVNDQGBb

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

Daisy Christodoulou argues that more pupils should reach the Grade 4 literacy and numeracy standard.

But @teacherhead asks what really distinguishes a 3 from a 4. How much weight should we attach to that boundary?

Raising standards AND scrutinising the threshold can coexist.

[Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo]

There are now quite a few schools in England achieving remarkable GCSE results.

The big next question: is their success replicable?

https://t.co/tp9iSl0OPH

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@JcstevJohn I should have said movements in grade boundaries, rather than grades - thank you.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

AQA English grade boundaries rose in 2026 — by up to 6 raw marks.

Meanwhile, AQA Maths boundaries were broadly unchanged - or fell considerably.

When a handful of marks can shift headline percentages, how meaningful are simple yearly comparisons?

Context matters.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@JcstevJohn Yes — absolutely. The NRT point is particularly important context for Maths.

I think it reinforces the wider point: movement in grades/boundaries cannot simply be read as movements in standards or teaching.

There’s quite a lot sitting behind those headline figures.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@CGVowles Interestingly, our headline results in English and Maths were very similar — despite the very different movement in grade boundaries. That’s partly why I think the context matters. Similar percentages don’t necessarily tell us the same story about the underlying raw marks.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@daisychristo AQA Maths grade boundaries were broadly unchanged — or fell considerably — from 2025 to 2026.

It doesn’t negate the improvement, but it does raise an important question about how we interpret year-on-year attainment figures.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

A very proud results day. Huge congratulations to our Year 11 students — so much hard work behind these results. 👏

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@greeborunner A grade 1–3 may not meet the conventional threshold of a ‘standard pass’, but that doesn’t mean it represents no achievement or value.

We can recognise the importance of qualifications without reducing educational achievement entirely to the thresholds we’ve created.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@PeterDMayr The training was evidence-informed and, importantly, it exposed gaps in my own understanding of how reading develops and what happens when decoding is not secure.

I’m always interested in learning from others’ expertise and experience.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

Does experience make us expert?

23 years in the classroom has given me experience. But phonics training exposed a gap in my professional knowledge.

My latest piece asks what turns experience into expertise — and whether experience alone is enough.

https://t.co/gDXvwPUWzh

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@PeterDMayr Pupils don’t cease to have decoding difficulties simply because they enter secondary school. After many years teaching English, phonics training revealed a clear gap in my professional knowledge. The point is experience and expertise are related, but they are not the same thing.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

I think that’s an important question. I wouldn’t expect every secondary teacher to be an expert in early reading. I do, however, think secondary English teachers and LSAs/TAs supporting struggling readers should receive training in systematic synthetic phonics.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

@daisychristo Interesting to see this debate continuing in The Guardian today.

[Heidi Jones | The Education Ground @TheEdGround]

Schools can identify barriers. Teachers can intervene educationally. But we cannot continually expand the problems schools are expected to solve.

Where does the responsibility of education end, and that of wider society begin? https://t.co/NgQJkadzPO