Blog

As we hurtle towards the finish line of our two-year Embedding Formative Assessment (EFA) journey, it felt like a good time to step back and reflect upon what has been a truly transformational process in terms of how we effectively use formative assessment in our classrooms and the passionate and reflective staff and student conversations around teaching and learning happening regularly at Erdington Academy.

Congratulations to St Mark’s CE Academy in London, Salesian School in Surrey and Chorlton High School in Manchester, who have become the latest schools to be recognised for ‘transforming’ practice in all areas of the Framework for Exceptional Education.

This blog demonstrates the value of coaching and reflection not only for student teachers but also for mentors. By fostering growth through structured CPD and collaborative practice, these initiatives highlight how empowering educators at all levels can create lasting improvement in teaching and learning.

There was a time when teaching was the best job to do as a working parent. Some people who don’t work in schools or are not married to teachers still view it as a job that fits around the family. You get the holidays, of course. Except you don’t.

Do you remember what attracted you to a career in teaching?

In this blog, we would like to share with you some insights about how attendance has increasingly become the business of Ofsted inspectors.

One of the key ideas that emerged from our member conference in December, which focused on neurodiversity, was the need to “usualise” the use of assistive technology.

I look around the education landscape with sadness and concern as the word “inclusion” has been diluted, misappropriated, and sometimes airbrushed out of everyday professional parlance.

Within any organisation, implementation matters. Leaders may be generating inspired, ground-breaking ideas, but without effective implementation, they will remain only that, an idea. Implementing change in schools is complex, requiring every member of staff to play their part.

I had the privilege of helping Lauren, my PA, to choose a primary school for her nearly 5-year-old twins. Two happy, but very different children.