Teachers don’t like being done to

May 14, 2011

I think the following quote is very true and important for anyone planning CPD in schools to keep at their core. “Teachers don’t like being done to. They are professionals and you need to partner them and help them find their own solutions to a situation.” Ian Nurser, Shropshire primary headteacher and National Leader of Education. [...]

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TeachMeet Midlands

May 10, 2011

I’ve finally bitten the bullet and signed up for TeachMeet Midlands on the 20th May.   TeachMeet is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and learning. The main part of TeachMeet is hearing stories about learning, from teachers. Real narratives of practice that make a difference. It is about being engaged and inspired by [...]

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Help! My Sat Nav is set to “Avoid Fun”

March 30, 2011

I believe that a Sat Nav is a fabulous metaphor for Vision both personal and professional. Yesterday I realized that I have spend the past 15 years with my SatNav set to avoid fun. In this month’s Wired magazine the letter from the Publisher, Rupert Turnbull, invites readers to send him a single paragraph detailing [...]

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Being Comfortable In The Skin You’re In

March 13, 2011

Inspired by the final of Let’s Dance for Comic Relief on Saturday, my sister and I rewatched the performances of Robert Webb and Rufus Hound, the winners in 2009 and 2010. You may remember that Robert danced to ‘Flashdance’ and Rufus to Sheryl Cole’s ‘Fight for this Love’. They reminded me how much I admire [...]

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Mummy I Love You At Your Size

March 8, 2011

Today, 8th March, is International Woman’s Day and as a tribute I wanted to share with you something that I was inspired to write by three amazing women and one little boy, wise beyond his years. You are the most important person in your life, so love yourself unconditionally. You can’t be everything to everyone, [...]

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Time to be resilient

October 17, 2010

On the  Teacher Support Network blog yesterday Kevin Armstrong wrote: ” a key question is: why should teachers have to be resilient? In principle, I’m not convinced that resilience should be a prerequisite to teach.” Here was my response: I believe that resilience is an essential characteristic of any well rounded human being and definitely [...]

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Great Teachers

July 2, 2010

Teacher Support Network have launched an initiative to raise awareness about the important role that teachers play in our lives and in society: “In advance of our new ‘Great Teachers’ campaign, we’re collecting stories and statements from people who want to celebrate teachers. You can get involved by telling us about a great teacher who [...]

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Inspiring Purposes

June 16, 2010

I’ll start by saying “Thank you” to Andy Hargreaves for giving me a compelling purpose prior to attending the National College Annual Conference. I put my name down for his fringe seminar tomorrow morning, the attendance of which required I had read his book “the Fourth Way”. “This is a sales gimic”  I thought, but was [...]

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

May 23, 2010

For Danielle Hope, winner of ‘Over the Rainbow‘ this weekend, her learning journey continues towards eight shows a week on the West End stage. As a headteacher your learning journey is also in full swing. You can boost your leadership by seeing the world from a new perspective too. To find out how go to www.BoostLeadership.com where you [...]

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4 elements to consider when setting a vision

May 17, 2010

In the best schools I know, the vision is embedded in everything every stakeholder does, be it Headteacher, staff, students, parents or governors.Many of these visions have been driven by an initial spark from a visionary head teacher, but then this headteacher has skilfully involved each and every stakeholder in defining the vision and keeping [...]

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