This December, teachers and school leaders from across the UK will head to Oxford’s Cheney School for #TMOxford. Taking place on Thursday 15th December and organised by assistant head Amjad Ali, this annual, nationally-trending Christmas TeachMeet is returning for the fourth time, and once again attendees will be treated to a wealth of top-shelf speakers. Innovate My School are proud to be one of the sponsors for this event with a small selection of prizes, and each delegate will receive a copy of the newly-released IMS Guide 2016/17.

Teaching entrepreneurship as an academic subject has been a hot topic for years. Well-known business leaders such as Richard Branson have called for schools to “come up to date” and devote more time to entrepreneurship, and the Government has backed various initiatives and entrepreneurial competitions in schools.

Take stock for a moment and consider three revolutions that are taking place, and how today’s young children and adolescents are beginning to respond to the ‘17 Sustainable Development Goals’ agreed by world leaders of 193 countries in September 2015. The ambitious Action Plan to find lasting solutions for the 17 Global Goals started on 1 January 2016 and will continue to 2030 – during the critically formative years of today’s schoolchildren. What kind of world do they want in 2030 as young adults?

“Effective leadership coaching can happen on the dance floor of conversation.” -
John G. Agno

There are many definitions of leadership. Some highlight the importance of highly-developed professional skills and knowledge; others dwell on the importance of personal skills. A number of researchers state that leadership begins with the character of leaders, their emotional intelligence, self-awareness, personal values and beliefs. As Will Ryan (2003) pointed out: “If You Scratch a Good Head…You Find a Moral Purpose.” Other researchers rightly state that without a clear operational strategy or a strong strategic plan of how to communicate and achieve goals and create vision, success is not possible.

Independent learning has many different names - child centred, personalised or self-regulated - but at its core it is the process of shifting responsibility for the learning process from the teacher to the pupil. To achieve this outcome successfully, pupils need to have a deep understanding of their learning, be self-motivated and willing to collaborate with the teacher within the learning environment according to a 2010 white paper presented at the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Annual Conference.

Pastoral care is one of the most important duties a teacher can have within a school. As form tutors, we are given the most amount of time in which we can make a personal difference to a pupil without having to worry about the demands of the subject we teach. So, what does good pastoral care looks like, and what can we as educators do in order to ensure all pupils receive an above-standard level of care across the board?

There is so much that is really urgent in schools that there is a real danger we may lose or sideline the things that are really important. The education system itself is under pressure from recruitment, retention, school places and budget cuts whilst teachers dread ever-changing goal posts – and don’t even mention Ofsted!

This time last year, I was in your shoes; a 23-year-old, fresh-faced former trainee teacher who was jumping onto the relentless treadmill that is the NQT year. Last August, I made a vow to myself: to provide the students in my care with the best education I can provide, but to not completely surrender my life to my career. In this article, I hope to share some of the tricks I deployed in order to help me keep calm and soldier on through my NQT year, hopefully for you to plunder.

Isn’t it funny how as toddlers, we question absolutely everything? At three years old, it’s all about the ‘why’. Why is the sky blue? Why does a dog have four legs? Why do I have to eat green vegetables? Why does Mummy work? We’ve all experienced this phase with a toddler in one way or another, at times finding it exhausting.

There’s a common assumption that in-house CPD (continuing professional development) is the way forward in schools. After years of poorly presented and ultimately fruitless courses on subjects chosen by others, like rootless flowers, it’s probably safe to say that very often the best development opportunities come for the colleagues we work alongside every day. And while swallowing that for some time, I began to realise I was waiting for someone else to do it for me. I’m getting on a bit. I couldn’t wait any longer.