School Data Updates

Remember the community charge, or the poll tax as it became better known? The supposed merit of the system was that it was simple, easy to understand and straightforward to apply. But like many things that are simple it was flawed. It was also extremely unfair. Under the poll tax, everyone would pay the same […]

In the crazy world of competitive shin kicking, combatants apparently shout “Sufficient!” when they’ve had enough. I know how they feel. This whole issue of defining ‘sufficient progress’ feels like being kicked in the shins repeatedly. So, I thought I’d try to explain what it is and why attempting to set end of key stage […]

It occurred to me recently that if statutory teacher assessment were a fairy tale it would be Cinderella. Loved and cherished in the Early Years, its future has become ever more uncertain, its status steadily undermined. Soothed by masters who, publicly at least, pay lip service to its value, teacher assessment is becoming increasingly sidelined, […]

I had some weird dreams last week. One involved a cottage that slipped its anchor and rolled down a hill, crashing into a farmyard. I emerged shaken but unscathed. The other involved a dystopian, Running Man-style game staged in a dimly lit branch of B&Q. Cornered and frightened, I thankfully awoke before my inevitable, grisly […]

The cat is out of the bag. This week the frustratingly overdue report from the Assessment Commission into assessment without levels was leaked via Warwick Mansell and it nearly broke twitter, such was the excitement over its contents. Keen to head the charge, I skimmed through it and tweeted some key points. But Harry Fletcher-Wood […]

There is a radical concept in urban design known as shared space. It involves the removal of kerbs, street furniture, and painted lines in order to blur the boundaries between traffic and pedestrians. The idea is that if you merge the various zones of use in the urban environment – pavements, cycle lanes and roads […]

We’re all knackered. You’ve all been teaching forever and I’ve visited approximately 1000 schools a week since I become self-employed last November. What I want to do right now is talk to my family, watch the Big Bang Theory, drink some beer and then sod off to France in a couple of weeks and go […]

Yesterday I re-read this from @edudatalab and, following an enlightening discussion with @meenaparam, I took the red pill and discovered that the VA rabbit hole goes deeper than I previously thought.  Much is made of the issue of progress in junior schools and their correspondingly poor Ofsted outcomes. I’ve tweeted about the problem numerous times and have written […]

Last night @LizzieP131 tweeted this: Which was followed by this: In the past week I’ve been told by headteachers using one particular system that their pupils need to achieve 70% of the objectives to be classified as ‘secure’ whilst another tracking system defines secure as having achieved 67% of the objectives (two thirds). The person […]

One of my favourite scenes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy involves the Golgafrinchans who, having been tricked off their own planet, find themselves on Earth and set about trying to colonise it. The following video clip shows their attempt at inventing the wheel. It’s an amusing and apt analogy that regularly pops into […]