When James McAleese joined Mount Grace School as assistant head in 2015, his challenge was to embed digital learning across the school. Having regularly used GCSEPod at his previous school, he knew that the resource could play a huge part in the digital transformation of the school.

GCSEPod is now used in one in every four UK secondary schools and has quickly become the digital education content of choice for hundreds of thousands of teenagers in the UK and beyond. However, what might come as somewhat more of a surprise is that thousands of teachers are now also using the digital content and learning platform as a valuable teaching and assessment tool. ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton believes that the resource could go a long way to declutter their busy workloads this school year.

This theme will see a month of articles showcasing just how savvy educators are using edtech, classroom tactics and innovative thinking to tackle the year ahead. Here at GCSEPod, we get to see the feats of amazing teachers and school leaders every day - let’s take a look at two of them!

Measuring value for money isn’t easy, but for school leaders it has become essential. According to a shake-up announced by secretary for education Justine Greening, £1.3 billion is to be reallocated within the schools’ budget over the next two years. Nonetheless, school leaders around the country have many tough decisions to make about how and where to allocate budgets for the year ahead.

Progress 8 marks one of the biggest shifts in the way we evaluate the success of students and schools. Love it or loathe it, it looks set to stay. And while we recognise that it will take a few years to stop focusing on headline A*- C grades, the need to demonstrate pupil progress across the entire spectrum is now far more important than just being able to shout about exam success.