Innovate My School - Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

Microsoft Teams: an alternative VLE?

While there are many different virtual learning environments available on the market, some with high running costs, Microsoft Teams is a practical solution for teachers who want to incorporate educational technology into the classroom.

Being yourself, even with big shoes to fill

I'm standing in front of a group of newly qualified teachers, about to embark on their first teaching post in new schools, with new roles, and new stationary. I share that this new term brings with it new challenges for me also.

We really should be calling ‘soft’ skills hard

We’ve heard it before. The world of work is changing and at a rapid rate. So whether you’re an educator or parent, preparing young people for the world of work comes with a myriad of challenges.

The importance of meaningful assessment

The current education system in England has found itself under increasing scrutiny for the one-size-fits-all nature it has adopted, with many believing the focus on rigid testing is having a detrimental effect on students’ wellbeing and progress in schools. This has culminated in Ofsted shifting its focus on assessment in the new inspection framework to introduce a more personalised, balanced and inclusive approach that prioritises ‘intent, implementation and impact’.

Empower supply teachers and deliver for learners

Years of collaboration with schools combined with the experience of our team means we understand the challenges that school leaders face. With the current shortfall of teachers and teacher workload at an all-time high, supply teachers are in increasingly high demand.

Story, a super powerful learning tool

Schools UK wide are struggling with the same issues -children entering school with low levels of language and lacking social and emotional skills. Why is this? It’s all about the quality of the interactions happening for children in their early years. This is currently a hot topic and a focus area for the DfE.

The 4Cs of Lifelong Technology

The 4 Cs of Education - Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical Thinking - are well embedded in lots of schools. The principles of each do not always have to incorporate technology, of course, but I am going to focus on that angle as I think it's really crucial to how students approach technology use beyond their school years also.

Divination, or preparing our students for… who knows?

When I ask my Sixth Form students what they want to study at university or what they want to be later in life, I am often in for a surprise. Their answers often include degrees or professions that I had not heard of and could not have imagined even ten years ago. At this point I would like to make it clear that I am not old (obviously!), but that ...

The EdTech Guide to Formative Assessment

The DfE listed ten challenge areas in its EdTech Strategy, one of which was formative assessment. It’s so important, in fact, that they’re offering funding to EdTech companies who can offer innovative ideas to transform formative assessment - we’re fortunate enough to already work alongside several companies who are making a real impact in the world of assessment, and this week we’re celebrating their amazing work. 1. ...

Using Formative Assessment to engage reluctant writers

As a teacher, and later Deputy Head, my classes invariably contained reluctant writers - usually boys! I was always on the lookout for new ways to support my teaching of writing, with a focus on strategies that would ensure that every one of my children achieved their full potential.

The ‘A’ Word

I came. I saw. I assessed. Then I collected the evidence, transposed each score into an outcome, annotated my class list with levels and photocopied everything four times…

Conkers

September is a golden month. The heydays of summer are over but there are still times when the afterglow of warmth burnishes our days before the early morning dews of autumn take over. In school there is still that freshness that goes with the beginning of a new school year. Classroom displays still look crisp and new, there is an eagerness to deliver new areas of learning which were planned ...