Four steps to develop your school’s senior leadership team Building and developing a successful senior leadership team is an important part of the role of a headteacher. Simon Clark shares four strategic tips for how you can do this
Designing whole-school CPD: Three streams, one cycle With so many high-quality materials available to schools, the challenge these days is not the what of CPD, but the how. Applying recent EEF research into the mechanisms of effective CPD, Robbie Burns advises on designing a whole-school CPD cycle
Weekly Evaluation Sheet: A simple but impactful monitoring tool After a ‘requires improvement’ judgement, as part of his school’s response Gavin Hamilton implemented the Weekly Evaluation Sheet to help focus minds, improve monitoring and intervention, and cut workload...
The golden triangle: How to improve performance management in schools The golden triangle of performance management takes in quality improvement, performance development and CPD. Matt Bromley explains, offering some key tenets of effective performance management systems
Meaningless words? How to build a genuine school ethos Building a school ethos can so easily become an exercise in jargon and meaningless words. James Handscombe says that it is not until your ethos gets in the way of a hard decision that you know if you really believe in what you’re saying…
Three principles for an inclusive school environment Ensuring an inclusive school environment which supports every pupil to be their best is a priority for school leader Bavaani Nanthabalan. She discusses three core principles for achieving this
Edtech change and transformation: How to make things happen... When it comes to edtech in schools, we are all grappling with how to harness the momentum that has been built up during the pandemic. Al Kingsley – author of the new book My Secret EdTech Diary – explains how to take control of edtech change and make things happen
How sustainable is your school’s CPD provision? Does your school have a CPD offer? Or does it have a culture of learning? Michelle Barker shares some self-evaluation questions to help you review the sustainability of your school’s CPD provision
Developing your school's long-term strategic plan It is crucial that your long-term strategic plan helps you to sustain your school. Ciara Lamb outlines what to consider when deciding on your priorities and how to create a robust plan
Anti-racism & diversity: Curriculum, policy and practice Decolonising the primary curriculum, embedding diversity, and becoming an anti-racist school is a challenging and at times difficult process. Headteacher Laura McPhee describes how her school reviewed and reformed its curriculum, policy and practice
Student voice: How to create a collaborative school and classroom culture Collaborative decision-making happens when the options, constraints and possibilities in the classroom are discussed and decided in partnership with pupils. Dr Geraldine Rowe explains what this looks like in practice
No Silver Bullets: Day-in, day-out school improvement School improvement is not about silver bullets. Rather it is about making small incremental gains day-in, day-out. A new book is offering 89 such gains to help focus the mind. Author Paul K Ainsworth dissects four of them here…
CPD at the heart of school improvement A small primary school in Cornwall has become a CPD powerhouse after placing professional development at the heart of its school improvement plans. Yvonne Gandy takes a look
'The first thing I invested in was the school library' The library must sit at the heart of our teaching and learning environments. Former headteacher, Richard Gerver – the new president of the School Library Association – explains why school libraries have never been more important and looks at some tenets of good practice 1 comment
Schools post-Covid: Five changes for the better What changes should schools make in the post-Covid world? What are the new priorities? Malcolm Groves outlines five changes for the better that school leaders say they want to see
Effective CPD: A guide to professional learning networks This article tackles five questions to help you evaluate whether your school is making the most out of professional learning networks. Michelle Barker also shares recommendations for leaders on how to establish, grow and sustain networks that work
School improvement: The patchwork quilt approach? Best practice cannot become a patchwork quilt – stitched together from ideas, approaches and interventions seen elsewhere. We must always remember that context matters above all else, says Jonathan Cordiner
Eight leadership habits and how to encourage them The Ted Wragg Trust prioritises leadership development across its schools. Senior leader Caroline Sherwood describes the MAT’s eight leadership habits and how these can be encouraged
Creating a shared culture of professional learning across a MAT The Academy Transformation Trust has launched its own institute to drive a shared culture of professional development for almost 2,000 staff across 22 schools. Kathryn Morgan speaks with institute director Abby Bayford to find out how this works in practice
An annual checklist for your school’s governing body What should the annual to-do list look like for an effective governing body? Al Kingsley considers some of the key roles and responsibilities and how they should be carried out
School improvement: Peer review & collaboration Peer reviews have been described as a driving force for school improvement. Laura McPhee considers which approaches can lead to maximum impact
Work scrutinies as a part of school improvement Joint work scrutinies are a potential feature of Ofsted inspection. To help prepare, Kaley Foran looks at making joint work scrutinies a regular and constructive part of your school improvement processes
How well do you know your cognitive bias? Cognitive bias can present itself in many forms and can hamper your school’s work to raise attainment and close the gaps. Fiona Aubrey-Smith asks whether cognitive bias is holding you, your colleagues or your school back
Ten ideas for using research in your school How do we engage teachers with research? And how can we turn this engagement into impact? Alex Beauchamp offers 10 principles for developing research-informed professional learning
January’s priorities for new headteachers Continuing her series offering support and advice for new headteachers, National Leader of Education Helen Frostick considers what we should be prioritising at the beginning of the spring term
