Vanessa Pittard shares expert advice on how to build firm foundations with mastery. I’d like to suggest that one of the benefits of mastery is the avoidance of misery. I’ll focus on primary maths, but what I write here applies as much at KS4/GCSE as to Key Stage 2. What’s the point of introducing mastery […]
Read more Rudyard Kipling’s The Ballad of East and West contains the famous opening line: Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet. I’ve heard this message echoed in a variety of forms over recent years by educators who are wary, and sometimes sceptical, of the value of mathematics teaching methods […]
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GCSE Psychology is changing! Final exams for the current specifications will take place in June 2018. This means that from September 2017, we will all be ‘getting to grips with’ the requirements of the new reformed specifications. ‘So why are we changing?’ I hear you ask! The new GCSE Psychology specifications have come about as […]
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You’ve just invested in new resources for the 2016 GCSE and A Level specifications. Now what? Head of Geography Kate Stockings suggests some ways to get the most out of your textbooks. Nationwide, geography departments seem to be in similar positions: a pile of new textbooks (hard-fought to get!), a crazy amount of content to […]
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It seems unbelievable that Easter is upon us once again. After a short break for chocolate eating, our exam groups will be revving up for the final few weeks of completing courses, revision, and past papers before the GCSE maelstrom begins. When that’s over, the impact of the new UK curriculum and the GCSE criteria […]
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I have spent 5 incredible days in Singapore, immersing myself in classroom practice, observing lessons and learning from educational researchers at the National Institute of Education. I am enormously grateful to have had this fascinating and informative opportunity. This is my third trip in two years which has enabled me to gain a comprehensive insight […]
Read moreTextbooks – the wheel already invented I recently responded to a tweet asking if anyone knew of any decent textbooks to use at KS3. When I tweeted ‘Ignite English from OUP’, one reply seemed surprised that textbooks meeting the new curriculum requirements existed. Ignite English was written to coincide with and support the new curriculum […]
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