An exhausting week finished on Friday with our inaugural TeachabilityUK Pupil Conference at Liverpool FC. Thanks to the brilliant administration from Teresa, our office manager, the day went swimmingly from an organisational point of view. I hope that many of the educational objectives were also met. Here are the highlights:- Kevin Carey inspiring the pupils… Read More TeachAbilityUK Pupil Conference

‘What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.’ (Aristotle) As someone who finds it difficult to say ‘no’ when asked to assist fellow professionals, I have found myself with a range of voluntary roles to accompany my headteacher one, including one as a trustee with an academy trust. Like many… Read More Voluntary Service

It’s Y6 writing moderation season (notice the correct use of the apostrophe) and I admit to the temptation to write at length about this technocratic jungle. Think Brexit negotiations are complicated? You should try assessing Y6 writing. However, there are several very good articles out there that go into the need for change – Michael… Read More Brilliant Writers

Tomorrow, we begin our annual Languages and Cultural Festival in school, something we’ve done for I think ten years now. It will culminate, as always, with every class performing a song, playlet or rhyme in French on our battered stage. One feature of the week is a cultural food-tasting opportunity. This allows the children to… Read More Food, Glorious Food

It’s the end of May, and for many parishes the end of the Holy Communion season. The Catholic calendar is unthinkable without it, and for us another five dozen children were initiated in the rite of the Eucharist. Two sunny days, a rash of colour, and much good humour. This year, the two weekends left… Read More First Holy Communions

If you are looking to study music in a UK school in 2018, your timing is not great. A recent article in The Economist (March 2018) analysed the impact of cuts to services in an area of North Wales where music has been a way of life for decades. Musical opportunities are now so rare… Read More The Power of Music

In a break from writing mostly positive things about education, I am now going to be resoundingly negative. Primary SATs, which start tomorrow, are, to misquote Zaphod Beeblebrox, ‘appallingly appalling’ and need to be couriered to Ursa Minor on a Vogon destroyer at the earliest opportunity. Here are five reasons why. Dubious Data Firstly, they… Read More SATs: No more thanks.

Have you been to a good training course recently? Hmm, me neither. News of a pilot project, launched by the Department of Education last week, has got people talking about the merits of continuing professional development for teachers. The subject of the project, a ‘paid sabbatical’, moves the centre of gravity away from regular updates… Read More Teacher Sabbaticals

Dreadful though the ‘Windrush’ crisis is, it’s hardly surprising. We’ve been here before, it’s just that us lot in the public services have become immune to the culture. Ask any teacher, nurse, prison officer or policeman and they’ll have a tale of data being lost, data being manipulated, arbitrary targets set, changed or cancelled. It’s… Read More Hostile Targets

Excitement this week as we are about to launch our ‘upgrade’ to the Richie Barnes Memorial Fund. Richie, our much-loved brother, son and uncle, died in 2009 after a life living with all sorts of disability. Our family are determined to remember all the amazing people who contributed to making his life such a special… Read More TeachAbility UK

This weekend, my son’s football coach stepped down from his role, after nine years of sweaty training, interlocking of goalposts, and sending of WhatsApp messages. We’ve had a roller-coaster of a ride with Phil. The heroic comeback from 3-0 down in a cup quarter final prompting Phil to run Mourinho-like along the touchline screaming for… Read More Cricket: Football Stopped Play

Earlier this week, on April 4th, the world reflected on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. It also happened to be the day when new rules were introduced to advance more equal pay for women in the UK. So a big day for equality. I don’t know if it was intended,… Read More Egalité