Top 10 tips for... Successful staff meetings The staff meeting is a vital opportunity to demonstrate your leadership and ensure your school retains a sense of community. But we must avoid laboured events that send out the wrong messages and waste valuable staff time. Suzanne O’Connell offers 10 ideas for effective meetings
Poverty in school: Practical tips for supporting families The cost of living crisis is hitting families hard. Fabienne Crocket from the UK Cost of the School Day project considers four areas where we might review our provision to ensure the costs of school are not adding to the burden
School admissions and exceptional SEND cases Sometimes schools are compelled to admit pupils with exceptional SEND that they cannot meet because the local authority insists on the placement. Nabil Dance outlines how schools can respond in these difficult and often sensitive circumstances 1 comment
Letting your school spaces to generate income: 12 tips to get started From halls to classrooms, schools have many spaces that could be hired out to generate additional income. Vicki Atkin offers 12 tips to get you started
Building a ‘fossil-free’ school A new school build? Powered only by clean, community-led renewable energy? Matthew Shotton describes an ambitious project to build a fossil-free all-through school
School admissions and the law: Insights and advice What are some of the basic principles in school admissions law? Nabil Dance outlines some examples of the requirements that apply to primary schools and offers some insights, guidance and tips
Cultures and actions to drive leadership diversity As part of anti-racism work, the diversity of our staff and senior leadership matters. Orlene Badu says this work begins with a focus on retention and creating cultures to challenge racism and inequality
At crisis point: Poverty in our communities The cost-of-living crisis has not left many untouched and those working in schools are experiencing first-hand the impact it is having on families. Suzanne O'Connell speaks with three schools to find out what they are seeing and what they are doing to help
Classroom observations: Judgements or conversations? As a school leader, why do you carry out lesson observations? What are they for and what do you ‘judge’? Experienced headteacher Jim Mepham discusses what observations should aim to achieve and some alternative approaches 1 comment
Leadership: How to run effective meetings Meetings matter, but too often in schools they can turn into long-winded affairs wasting precious staff time. Robbie Burns takes a look at how we can make our meetings more efficient and better
School funding: Teaching assistants in the firing line… Despite the £2bn funding injection, schools still face tough decisions when balancing the books – and teaching assistants are prime targets. Suzanne O’Connell on why we might regret letting our TAs go...
Staff wellbeing: Complete the stress cycle and avoid burn-out Stress hormones have an important job to do, but they are not designed to stay in our systems permanently. Emily Kenneally offers seven ways to complete your stress cycle and three tips to avoid burn-out
School funding: What does the Autumn Statement mean in 2023 and beyond? An additional £2bn is to be added to the core school budgets in each of the next two years – but what does this mean for your financial planning now? Specialist Julia Harnden offers her analysis to help you prepare for 2023 and beyond
Marginal gains & school improvement: Big changes in small steps Schools don’t need a big-bang approach to change or improvement, writes Matt Tiplin. It is far better to focus on small, realistic and sustainable improvements in teaching and learning…
Therapeutic classrooms: ‘The couch area is definitely their favourite’ This year, Shahana Knight is continuing her transformational therapeutic classroom work with a pioneering cohort of primary schools. This time, she visits Worsley Mesnes Primary to transform a year 5 classroom... 1 comment
Seven ways to maximise your CPD spend With huge cost pressures facing schools, making the most of every pound spent on, and every second of staff time dedicated to, CPD is crucial. David Weston offers seven ways you can think about maximising the impact of this enormous investment
Five alternative and inclusive school fundraising ideas Schools must avoid piling too much fundraising pressure onto families living in poverty and struggling with the cost of living. Craig Watson offers five alternative fundraising ideas
Radicalisation and extremism: Prevent self-assessment tool As the government launches a Prevent self-assessment tool and new guidance on responding to extremism, safeguarding expert Elizabeth Rose offers schools a refresher and some pointers to ensure your safeguarding practice in this area is effective
Disability discrimination law explained Disability discrimination and equality legislation have greatly strengthened the protection of pupils against discriminatory treatment since the mid-1990s. Nabil Dance provides a basic introduction to some rules and how they affect primary schools
Top 10 tips for... Energy saving in your school Schools can play their part in responding to the climate emergency while also reducing their energy costs at a time of rising prices. Suzanne Gibbon from the Let’s Go Zero campaign offers 10 energy-saving tips and examples from schools
Preparing governors for Ofsted inspection Governors have a key role to play during Ofsted inspection. Tiffnie Harris discusses 10 ways we can ensure governors are well prepared for when the inspectors come calling...
School policy compliance: Getting it right for your school How do you prepare school policies that comply with the law? Nabil Dance provides some tips to set you on the right path
School leadership: How to respond to and solve problems As a school leader, problem or cause analysis is important and it can be worth taking time to understand a problem’s root causes before springing into action. Sean Harris considers two models for moving from reactive to responsive problem-solving
Black and female: Adultification, bias and racism Black children are more likely to be excluded from school and face systemic adultification, bias and racism. Our response to this often focuses on boys, but Orlene Badu looks at the barriers faced by students who are both female and of black heritage... 2 comments
17 things that effective school leaders do What are the traits of effective school leaders? John Dabell outlines 17 things that successful leaders do...
