Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

What matters most in the post-lockdown classroom

The process of getting us back to where we were is currently hesitant, uncertain and we are not the same as we were. We have all been changed, regardless of how you considered your mental state to be. We are very aware that the world is uncertain – and it’s not just about coronavirus. Along with the change of/lack of routine, we can identify five barriers of ...

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Ensuring great blended learning for SEND students

Throughout the period of the lockdown, educators have identified innovative and creative ways of engaging with students while they learn from home. Schools have done amazing jobs adapting resources and switching to online learning platforms at speed.

Bringing travel into the classroom

I’ve always been obsessed with travelling. As a teenager I volunteered with my church group to traverse India working in villages, prisons, NGOs and hospitals. The experiences fulfilled me in ways I cannot fully explain and each year, I looked forward to doing more meaningful work and exploring my country every chance I got. As a young teacher some years later, I began organizing regular domestic travel for my ...

Reducing teacher workload through remote education

The pandemic has brought with it many challenges and the education sector has had to act quickly to adapt. At Coupals Primary, our teachers and parents have worked together to ensure all the children continue to be educated during this uncertain time.

Using current affairs to your classroom’s advantage

Events in the US, particularly the murder of George Floyd and subsequent fallout, has placed a massive spotlight on racism. Millions of people around the world currently have a front row seat via their phones of the levels of brutality, injustice, bias and inequality black people are subject to. Often there is a disconnect between US events and those here in the UK, however amidst the COVID-19 pandemic the world ...

How an unknown resource made my lockdown

I had never heard of Microsoft Teams before April 2020, before lockdown, before remote learning and before COVID-19: I simply did not know it existed! Now it has become an integral and daily part of my teaching life.

The big social focus for 2020/21

How was your last term? The final term of the year was obviously very different to normal. My school reacted thoughtfully and decisively to closure by setting up an online provision focused on supporting students to access education. The provision constantly evolved to incorporate different forms of education experiences, using technology to support students further.

The key priority for September is clear

How’s your last term been?

Why it’s time for teachers to get lazy

If you had said in February that we would spend the whole of Summer Term teaching from home, I would have been gobsmacked. The last term has been the strangest of my decade-long teaching career. Not all of the events that unfolded post-lockdown were unpleasant. If you believe some online ‘commentators’, teachers spent that time sitting on the couch, which I did at some points. I spent more time with ...

How to help struggling pupils catch-up

Nothing transforms a young life more than literacy. And, for a few young children in Years 1 and 2, the hours at home during lockdown might have been a blissful opportunity to devour books that they hadn’t previously had time to read. For many others, especially among the 380,000 UK schoolchildren who don’t own a single book, regular reading will simply have stopped when schools closed. With no daily reading record ...

Our whole-school approach to lockdown learning

Covid-19 had struck. We sent the children home from Roundthorn Primary Academy three days before schools closed nationally to all but key workers and vulnerable children. We’d had an outbreak; a number of staff fell ill and I was taking no chances. With little time to plan and just a few photocopied sheets in hand, we sent the children home not knowing what the immediate future might look like ...