Halfway 🦡

@SlatteryMr ..., wake me up when the shooting starts I'm gonna pack my bag for the hill watch it from afar

Something from work today: Finish the song lyric: “Wake me up…”

@LucyVonSc That would've been nice. Next time! Would've loved to have seen them on the downs but missed the boat with tickets.

@Halfwayupagain Sound was excellent. Was very wet though. If I'd been in Bristol longer I'd have seen if we could have met for a drink or something.

I have discovered my back to school fear will be softened by a thing on Saturday with music, the local micropub and excellent Caribbean take out and then a festival in the park opposite me on Sunday with music, beer, food, a dog show, stalls selling dubious jam etc. Happy days.

9 days until The Fluency Factory is officially launched! 🎉 To celebrate we’re giving away 10 books over 10 days. 🎁📚 Just RT to win! BOOK #2 - The Peculiars

@JamesHandscombe Other public sector roles get increased holiday allowance in bands as accrue service history. An extra day here and there throughout your career shouldn't be too expensive to cover but could save the individual lots on holidays etc so would be worth having.

2b) so, given there isn’t really more money, we can’t have a pay escalator that goes on forever, can we find other ways of rewarding? Good schools celebrate long service, could we do more? Is there a space for national awards based on the number of full timetable years taught?

So, how do we make schools that are worth coming back for? We’re never going to pay lots (although I hope there will be some above inflation rises to undo the erosion of the last years) & it’s always going to be hard (& I’m hoping there’s money for the rises or it will be harder)

@iamjonpalmer @MsJasmineMN

@iamjonpalmer @MsJasmineMN youtu.be/5GCSWEgZT94?fe…

@MsJasmineMN Ok, I'm sorry: Big Hero 6

@MsJasmineMN *Shrug* It's the holidays...

Every 5 days a woman is killed by an abusive partner or ex in England and Wales. So when a woman needs to escape this summer, we have to be ready to help. Your gift could help fund the Helpline call that helps her escape safely.

@TabitaSurge I think I teach this child's doppelganger.

The last question to the panel was "what would you like the new government to do on curriculum and assessment?" My answer: If we are talking about curriculum and assessment, the biggest thing for me is a reduction. There's too much content across the board, and we need to strip back. We also need to stop assessment backwash, where exam mark schemes become a part of the curriculum and determine what students do and don't learn. But that's if we're talking curriculum and assessment. If we're talking education in general - if @bphillipsonMP picked up the phone to me and said "what's the biggest thing in education" I would say something else: Broadly, the education system itself in this country is working. Training is getting better, standards are improving, professionalism and professional knowledge is increasing and slowly, slowly, outcomes across the board are heading in the right direction. Curriculum and assessment need some changes, fixes, and tweaks, but in a broad sense they work. What isn't working is everything else: we can't access CAMHS and we don't get hold of social workers. We have a two child limit and a benefits cap that keeps children hungry and in poverty. We have income cliff-edges that mean children whose parents can't afford meals are also not eligible for free school meals. We don't have Sure Start, we don't have youth centres. The SEND infrastructure is byzantine, underfunded and on the verge of collapse. The very fabric of the social security net is tattered and frayed, and vulnerable young children are falling through the gaps. Parents have lost faith in the system, and are losing their trust in schools and teachers. Despite this, schools are heroically battling the odds to provide students with a high-quality, robust and meaningful education. But when everything outside our gates is in such disrepair there's a limit to what we can do. So yes, there are things within education that need fixing. But the main thing - the biggest thing - is everything else. The best thing you can do for us is to fix that.

@chrisedwardsuk @Mr_N_Wood #FashionTeacher inspiration!

Inundated with (two) requests for evidence of previous prom suits. Thinking there’s enough here for me to become a full-time fashion influencer.

Football does not cause abuse, abusers do. Win, lose or draw – there is never an excuse.

@englishspecial @sputniksteve strokes that are needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined’."

@englishspecial @sputniksteve Surprised at a switch to printing as the end of KS2 expectations for writing say that they must be able to 'maintain legibility in joined handwriting when writing at speed' & the NC says that national curriculum states "pupils should be taught to ‘use the diagonal and horizontal

When did handwriting become so appalling?

representation of trans people in children and young people's broad and rich reading diet and in their diverse, inclusive curriculum isn't about promoting any sort of ideology. It's about promoting tolerance, respect and maybe even understanding and celebration of other people.

@Mr_N_Wood @MathsImpact I do it most lessons. I model the workings under the visualiser and if I spot a cleaner method, will share that afterwards.

@MathsImpact I often do this. Generally I solve the problem fairly sensibly and elegantly. Occasionally, it a bit messy Very occasionally, I dont & I come back the next lesson with a model solution & share my persistent notes. Maths is as much about a resilient attitude as anything else.

Maths teachers: How often do you answer questions "blind" in front of a class without already knowing what the answer should be? Particularly tougher questions where you don't immediately know how to do them?