Ofsted in the spotlight – How much of a rating is decided before an inspector sets foot inside a school?
Are some schools more likely to get better Ofsted scores, based solely on their student intake and school characteristics? Ofsted ratings are very prevalent in the media and are often under scrutiny. As recently as 29th January 2024, a cross party group of MPs recommended a complete overhaul of the grading system, in light of the tragic […]
Robots like ChatGPT are taking over – and we should probably let them
Everyone seems to be talking about ChatGPT. Along with other AI large language models such as Google’s Bard, this powerful disruptive technology is currently gathering increased media attention and generating both excitement and concern from the public. Understandably, many education professionals are employing caution around the way that students and educators could use a technology […]
Digital T Levels at a fork in the road
Two years into the flagship T Level programme would normally be an ideal time to review, take stock, and plot a clear route forward. When those two years coincided with a world-wide pandemic that massively impacted on face-to-face teaching, never mind the practicalities of lengthy work experience placements, the ‘big picture’ is much harder to […]
Art Workshops and Teacher Training for Primary Schools
Hi, my name is Christine and I run the Art Room. I used to work as a primary school teacher and now I specialise in supporting schools to teach art and DT. This is usually carried out as part of a whole school inset session, where I can target a few key areas of improvement. […]
Facing the Cyber Threat in the Education Sector
Cyber security has long been a challenge for the Education sector, but with the recent increase of cyber attacks against academic institutions, awareness and action is urgently needed now more than ever. Schools and universities can be lucrative targets for cyber criminals, both in terms of data and money. If hackers gain access to a […]
Head Teachers Role in Controlling Legionella in Schools
Author: Craig Morning, Senior Consultant, Water Hygiene Centre Ltd If you are a Head Teacher what are your responsibilities in relation to preventing or controlling Legionella in your school? To answer this question, it might be easier to split these into two categories, the first would be where the Head Teacher has full control over […]
North East engineering firm helps to Kick Off careers in MEP design
Newcastle’s Black and White Engineering (B&W) is opening its doors to budding engineers by joining a key initiative to provide career opportunities to young people across the region. The PlanBEE Kick Off programme is led by Ryder Architecture in partnership with Newcastle United Foundation (NUF), Gateshead College and other businesses across the construction and engineering […]
Lesson Planning for Stress Management
Learning to DeStress at School can set Teachers (and Students) up for Success Meghan Crowley, Senior Program Associate with The Monday Campaigns and a former sixth grade teacher with a master’s in Health Education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University reflects on teacher stress and opportunities to support educators with self-care strategies. ______________________________________________________________________________ It’s been […]
Universal Design for Learning: Change the lesson, not the student
Every teacher understands that children approach learning in different ways. Celebrating that difference rather than ignoring it is absolutely essential to creating impactful lessons that engage every student. Based on scientific insights into how people learn, Universal Design for Learning is a framework which can be used to redesign learning at its very core – […]