It’s endlessly inspiring to see the honesty and generosity of teachers who share so readily their classroom practice and leadership efforts in blogs, tweets and anything else that exposes these experiences to critique and conversation on social media. We’re an incredibly brave profession for sharing and being open to debate. On Friday I enjoyed spending…

I have been teaching the new Edexcel specification and my colleagues and I have enjoyed getting to know the anthology. There is a return to a meatier anthology, including some meatier works (great to see the Rite of Spring!). Without the Year 12 exam there is now an opportunity to make profitable use of the…

I’ve now read the three articles in the Chartered College of Teaching’s Impact journal – Issue 3 Summer 2018. This edition of the journal focused on developing effective learners (which was also the theme of the Third Space event in Oxford back in July 2018). The articles I read explored oracy/classroom talk which is the…

I’ve decided to blog about the literature review assignment for the Chartered Teacher Programme – mostly so I had a useful record of the reading that I would be doing as I refine the area of interest, but also to see if it helps with the thinking behind the eventual research project I will undertake.…

‘Education strikes a bargain with learners; trading innocence for experience. So, let’s not be in doubt: schools do kill a kind of creativity, but rather than ask how we can prevent this, perhaps we should be asking whether the creativity that they offer in its stead is more empowering, more liberating, more generous, more valuable. …

To save school music, we need to show that there’s more to it than learning instruments for fun, says this head of music. Think back to your school music lessons. What do you remember most? Perhaps it is learning to play a wobbly version of Tubular Bells on the keyboard that sticks in your mind, or…

Here’s an extract of my talk I was due to give at the MMA Conference at Eton College. I am sure we are all excited (and nervous?) to see how our students’ compositions will perform this summer. In the conversations I have with colleagues in other schools there is a consistent feeling of the unknown,…

I enjoyed attending the Strong Arts, Strong Schools event at RSA House yesterday (23 May). Interesting panel of Darren Henley, Andria Zafirakou, Laura McInerney and Stella Duffy and chaired by Mark Londesbrough. Mark introduced the event, framing it as part of the RSA’s Learning about culture, and the increasing look towards research for advocacy and seeking…

The Cultural Leadership Community run by A New Direction comes to a close 19 July. For my project, that I’ll be presenting that day to the rest of the group, will be the Music Day I instigated with the Museum of London when I joined City of London School for Girls. Now in its third…