This phrase – The Age of Impunity –  is I think recently attributed to David Miliband, the ex-Labour Foreign Secretary from a time when politics seemed quite sane. The phrase attempts to capture how nation states feel they can get away with pretty much anything without any resulting intervention from their neighbours. Think Putin, Trump,… Read More The Age of Impunity

One of the most significant deficits faced by pupils in more challenging socio-economic communities is one of vocabulary. Department for Education research suggests that, by the age of seven, the gap in the vocabulary known by children in the top and bottom quartiles is something like 4,000 words (children in the top quartile know around… Read More Oracy, and Feeling Warm in Iceland (Foods Ltd)

I may be straying into controversial territory but here goes… A week or so ago, I led a most joyful (and slightly bonkers) assembly. Our pupils were in their usual place, though decked in the bright primary colours of their houses. I was also in my usual place, but alongside me I had seventeen students… Read More Too Many Words?

We are now half-way through the visit of fifteen teachers and pupils from Sierra Leone. Our two major events – a concert at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Thursday, and two Conferences (pupils and teachers) on Friday – are now almost upon us and I will blog afterwards with some reflections. What has been notable… Read More Inspiration: The Best of People

In Lady Windermere’s Fan, Oscar Wilde had Lord Darlington quip that a cynic was ‘a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.’ This quote was used last week in various interviews given by Mariana Mazzucato, a mega-brained economist, whose latest book, ‘The Value of Everything’, has some harsh words for the private… Read More The Value of Schools

The Government’s new bad behaviour Tsar, Tom Bennett, writes in the Telegraph this week that using progressive teaching techniques for all children, regardless of their background, is a “very good way to maximising misbehaviour”. I began this blog with the intention of disagreeing with him, but reading his subsequent blog http://behaviourguru.blogspot.com/2019/05/good-schools-help-children-behave.html there is more that… Read More Oh, Behave Yourself!

Well, today I have reached that half-century. A smattering of applause, a shy raising of the bat, a readjustment of the helmet, and then it’s time to take guard for the rest of my innings. It’s quite a daunting moment – 50 years are a lot of years. The birthday comes a few days after… Read More 50 Not Out

Time was moving on, and Derek’s downsizing was becoming a source of stress. Much as he protested, he knew he would have to return to a full-time job, and soon. ‘All that education I received! And look at me – no good to anyone,’ he protested one morning. ‘Well, you’re good enough to me, darling’,… Read More The Headteacher’s New Secondment

I posted something on twitter today – a sort of rhetorical exhalation on the subject of SATs ‘boosters’ during holidays. It’s received plenty of responses so I feel I must expand on this now and finish with (possibly) a controversial conclusion. One of my recent blogs championed the primary school as a place full of… Read More Happy Holidays.

I’ve been thinking about the leadership of both May and Corbyn, and what this tells us about the frailties and shortcomings of modern leadership. It is indeed in a sorry state. BUT, as we always reiterate to all our pupils, education is all about learning from mistakes, errors and misunderstandings. So, rather than blame and… Read More Leadership: What to take from May’s (and Corbyn’s) lack of it.

Are we in danger of losing the very soul of primary education? I’ve thought this a lot over the last few years, as a hostile target culture has kidnapped traditional primary education and handed it over to bureaucrats and talentless technocrats. We really are in danger of ruining what should be a gradual introduction to… Read More School Soul

‘Music has the power to change the world, because it can change people.’ (Bono) This is a such a powerful quote. However, as we complete our week here in Freetown/Waterloo, Sierra Leone, I would want to take it further. Because what happens when people have been changed by music? What does it cause them to… Read More In Harmony Abroad