Incredible speech from @DAT_JThompson from @DixonsAcademies at @CSTvoice conference today. WAY too much for a thread.. but I tried!

🧵On purposeful implementation of Dixons’ Big Moves..

Love it.. go big or go home, right? 😎

1/13 A healthy organisation has minimal politics & minimal confusion 🙌

✅ clarity
✅ cohesion

‘You or your work are never going to be undermined’

What an extraordinary thing to know and feel every single day! 💪

2/13

🧵

If you haven’t read Graham Nuthall’s The Hidden Lives of Learners, I would highly recommend it. It’s solid gold. If you have read it, read it again. It’s even better a second/third time.

Here is a summary of a few of his findings in 9 tweets👇 1. Learning is highly individual.

✳️ Kids know approx 40/50% of lesson content already
✳️ But the ‘what’ of the 40/50% differs from kid to kid
✳️ All kids experience the classroom differently
✳️ Approx a 1/3 of what a kid learns in a lesson is unique to them

🧵
On leadership team briefings..

At our school, the leadership team have a daily briefing at 7.50am. It’s deliberately operational, but it’s impact goes far beyond logistics.

1/11 It’s ostensibly about cover & on-call and the day’s events etc etc.. (important and thrilling stuff!😊)

But it’s a ten minute window that can make or break a day, that can inspire or derail, that can motivate or make you want to get right back in your car and drive home.

2/11

A 🧵 of my #rEDBerks presentation on the tensions between research and practice from the PoV of an actual, tired, real-life Headteacher. @rEDBerks

My preamble: don’t be deceived - I’m pro-research, honest. I just think we need to apply criticality and hold our views lightly. 1/ Massive leaps forward as a profession. Much to celebrate. Summarised beautifully by @joe__kirby in this blog from last year pragmaticreform.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/sci…

Also, best long term bet, clear moral imperative and a move away from ‘folk teaching’. All good. 2/

I’m excited by our big push on reading @lodgeparkacad for the Summer term. Building on the groundwork we’ve put in place for 2 years now, we’re putting reading FRONT & CENTRE 🤩

Here’s how👇

(warning: long thread, probs should have done a blog 😂) 1. The groundwork; being diligently laid since Feb 2019...

✅ Created a culture of reading for purpose & pleasure
✅ Teachers read daily
✅ Reading age tested for all
✅ 30 mins silent reading per day
✅ Big push on our chosen reading scheme
✅ High profile praise & rewards

Some reflections on the system for awarding grades this year.

▪️Highly imperfect system, but it’s what we’ve got. Let’s be pragmatic and positive.

▪️Try not to be so upset by the imperfection that you start thinking exams are perfect; they are preferable, not perfect.

1/9 ▪️Don’t be fooled into thinking that loads of mocks/tests/assessments are the answer. They’re not. Great teaching is the answer.

▪️Don’t put Yr11/13 on a treadmill of tests just for the sake of ‘evidence’. Devote the time to teaching greatly 😊

2/9

THREAD: Found my grandmother’s O Level exam papers from 1954.
(kids got to keep their papers? 😮)

They’re fascinating.

Do we demand more or less of kids today?
What do the papers tell us about the curriculum in 1954?
Could you answer the questions?

1/15 Mathematics Paper 1.

2/15

A thread of some stuff that is making me think hard as I make my way through @CarolynCroberts’s fantastic book 👇 1/9 I started it a few week ago and posted some initial thoughts here 👇 2/9

https://twitter.com/621carly/status/1223736432939950080

Many thanks to @Counsell_C and @GraceEHealy for the curriculum challenge today. Thank you also @DRETnews @educurious2015 and @emneild. Much to consider!

Here are a few questions and statements that got me thinking👇 Has compliance forced you into proxies? Do you notice when?

Is curriculum at the heart of your theory of change?

Do you / your middle leaders really understand what is meant by them curriculum is the progression model?

A thread about cold-call. 👇

I’m not saying I’m an expert (I’m always learning) but these 👇 are my thoughts.

I love cold-call. It’s ace.
1/17 However, people talk about cold-call like it’s easy. It’s not easy. It takes deliberate, conscious effort and it’s not always a very natural thing to do.

Let me explain.
2/17

Just listened to the latest @pna1977 podcast with @tguskey and I’ve got to agree with @KLMorgan_2 - it’s brilliant. Here are a few highlights: Thread 1/17 (actually 18 - sorry) It’s all very well training and developing teachers, but their schools have to be ready to support the change that the training will bring. Too often, teachers and leaders are trained and inspired to make change happen, but their schools aren’t open to it. 2/17