Natasha Fox (Cotter)

After 14 years and thank you to so many people, but especially @macdonj @PKUFamily @vickyford Cait has Kuvan in her hands! Ready right start taking today. Very emotional and grateful

@sciantificnew And I also totally agree that you can do this through circulation and also marking. Marking books seems to have gone out of fashion.

There seems to be an obsession atm with expecting teachers to use AFL to assess in granular detail exactly which kids out of the 30 understand each part of the lesson. Usually involving mini whiteboards. I’m not sure that’s possible or even necessary. A skilled teacher…

@sciantificnew I totally agree. This is the current obsession. And this expectation, that if 6 children don’t understand, you have to immediately do something, which is not always as easy as it sounds, if you work in a school where you need to be constantly switched on for behaviour.

Heads in deprived areas warn that grades awarded by Ofsted for its new achievement category are ‘demoralising’ and fail to take their challenging circumstances into account tes.com/magazine/news/…

OFSTED ratings will never reflect: Genuine morale of a staff Ability of a staff Actual Behaviour of students in school Staff workload Level of challenge in school Human leadership Pick your grades, the above may or may not connect at all. IMO.

Imagine a different future for education in England. No fear of Ofsted. 
Just professionals opening their doors to each other. Headteachers visiting schools, sharing practice, challenging, learning, supporting. A network of trust, collaboration and improving schools together

Why does it continue to need to be said that equating quality of teachers and leaders in a school in a disadvantaged area by their exam results is complete and utter BS. Yes, I’m talking to you, again, OFSTED.

Wow! So emotional, so powerful I was too young to know much about it at the time but I know things changed And I thank all those involved for changing it. Cant imagine how we'd be living now, in todays world if Britain hadn't banned handguns #Dunblane

@UnofficialOA @NattySo2 Funnily enough being a teacher means you need to learn bladder control

@NattySo2 If you work at a call centre, they time how long you go for. If you’re a coach driver, you can’t stop whenever you feel like it. When kids are at the cinema, they often hold it in through choice because they don’t want to miss the movie. I could go on…

@OwenPGCE @NewbieSlt It’s unbelievable

@NewbieSlt I remember being told by SLT years ago that I should keep the blinds closed in my room because the countryside could distract the kids. This is the type of psychopathy that classroom teachers are dealing with.

Hi all, According to latest research, KS3 children learn best when there are no classroom displays and KS4 learn better when there are displays. We have therefore decided that you’ll all have to start putting your displays up or down quickly at the start of each lesson. Thanks x

@smithsmm @sciantificnew @Janroweljmu The whole behaviour and attendance thing being together is so unfair on many schools, who are working so hard on both these issues, and if they are making progress with one, they the can’t be recognised

@sciantificnew @Janroweljmu Wrong catchment or an inclusive approach rather than turning SEND kids away and the framework will mash you up. Don’t even start me on behaviour and attendance being together.

Based on my recent Ofsted experience, we’re back to monumental (and successful) efforts to improve teaching and learning being negated by historic low outcomes. Honestly, I’m absolutely seething and totally demoralised about how badly the new framework has stitched us up.

@Mathew_Lynch44 @RogersHistory Absolutely this

@RogersHistory For me, the fear of a school losing its autonomy as it was absorbed by a MAT who want corporate identity and insist that their ideas will work in every setting no matter what cost. Also, running schools as businesses typically means huge salaries @ top, cheap Labour @ chalk face

What are the key reasons ppl are against academisation for schools?

@Andyroberts1004 I just literally said this!!

This first 15 minutes is excruciating please stop Alan talking..present an award or something #BAFTAs

@Doug_Lemov Prosody is underrated. When students hear fluent reading done well, they’re not just decoding …they’re learning how meaning lives in sound. That’s foundational.

@greeborunner @englishspecial Also teachers who got a 3rd, know about making mistakes and finding things tough, which is very important when working with young people. Some people with top degrees do not know about failure, and struggle in academia.

@englishspecial I got a 2.1, but it was a 2.1 I got when looking after my son under 5 and my disabled dad. A lot depends on circumstances beyond what the piece of paper says.

👀Secondary teachers👀 You have a choice to put someone on a teacher education programme for your subject. 🤜Candidate A has an A level and a 3rd class degree in your subject. 🤜Candidate B has an A level in your subject and a 2:2 in an unrelated subject. Your pick?

We don’t have a classroom management problem. We have an emotional regulation crisis that teachers are being asked to handle. Somehow, “classroom management” has turned into: • de-escalating trauma • supporting anxiety and depression • calming panic attacks • being the counselor, social worker, and crisis team • carrying emotional loads no one sees And then we remove the very things that help like recess, movement, art, play, connection. Teachers aren’t trained for that. They shouldn’t have to be. Classroom management is about relationships, structure, routines, and connection. It was never meant to replace what families, communities, and systems failed to provide. And until we stop offloading every societal failure onto schools, teachers will keep drowning under expectations no human can meet.

@PaulGarvey4 It’s a disgrace

Early indications from 175 schools show that Inspection is now being controlled by attainment, via comparisons to averages of all schools and thus league tables. It is horrible. Gove’s vision coming to fruition via a Govian ZT HMCI. This will damage children and will damage…

@OwenPGCE @BarryNSmith79 Who all had low RA, every lesson, whilst following the curriculum, was based around reading/literacy. This was yrs 7-9. The progress these students made was immense. Some making 3 years reading age progress in one term. It changed their lives/confidence + ability to access curr

@OwenPGCE @BarryNSmith79 I totally agree. I am always amazed when we push through with a curriculum, when the majority of the class have a RA of below 10. Every lesson for them has to be based around literacy. I lead on this in one school I worked in, where the head supported a separate group of students

I don’t believe in a broad & balanced curriculum. It’s not an even playing field from birth. We disadvantage the already disadvantaged by enforcing a broad, often superficial & lip service, curriculum. Building on sand. Weak grasp of literacy & numeracy.

Vocabulary isn’t “extra.” It’s knowledge. “When students have the words to describe ideas, their ability to see, discriminate, and think critically changes.” — @Doug_Lemov In our recent webinar, he explained why knowledge starts with words. 🎥: bit.ly/40i7WB7

@bledwine @TolentinoTeach Yes like now they don’t bring their books to school, we have them all in the classroom and then have to hand out the books, so students miss the opportunities to pack their bags and prepare for the day, and we wonder why a lot of them have no clue what it going on!

@TolentinoTeach The routine and norms of taking out your notebooks and getting prepared for class are now met with arguments. Over the last decade I’ve watched a school become an indulgent wash of emoting children that refuse to go to class. The academic chops are no longer a mater of course.

What’s changed with students since Covid? Plenty. But one thing stands out to me: stamina. The stamina to read. The stamina to write. It wasn’t perfect before Covid, but it feels like it’s gotten worse. What do you think?