What can education learn from Quality Management?
Bit of a big post this - it's been evolving in my drafts file for a while now...I learnt a lot about management and quality during 10 years working in the automotive industry. Due to the complexity of...
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Why does RAG123 work?
I've been pondering for some time why RAG123 has such impact. I know I like it because I get a better understanding of my students, and can plan more accurately as a result. But to have such a big...
View ArticleA RAG123 epiphany
Our PGCE student had a real lightbulb moment with RAG123 this week... It emphasised to me that it is way more than a quick way to get books marked...(as a respect for anonymity I will refer to the PGCE...
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Blogging birthday post!
My first ever post was published a year ago!! I remember being nervous about putting my thoughts out there for the world to see...1 year later and this will be my 45th published post. More astounding...
View ArticleRAG123 user survey
I was asked the other day if there was a list of people using RAG123, in order to share best practice and develop it further. There currently isn't such a list... but here's our chance to create one!If...
View ArticleHow do you do RAG123 so quickly?
Whenever people start off with RAG123 they take too long marking. It's not their fault - they're used to taking longer and struggle to do it more quickly. When I say a full set takes 15 minutes I am...
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RAG123 user survey - the results!
I posted the RAG123 survey a few weeks ago and have now collected enough responses for it to be meaningful.Don't know what RAG123 is? see here and here.In total 40 people responded, which I know is...
View ArticlePolicies not straightjackets
I'm starting to lose track of the number of times I've heard or seen people say that they can't do or try something because it's out of line with their school or department policy. It really worries me...
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SOLO to open up closed questions
I've been dabbling with SOLO for a while now, it's been part of bits of my practice (see here, here and here) but I've yet to really embed it in all lessons as fully as I would have liked. I have used...
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Reflecting on reflections
Reflecting is hard, really hard! It requires an honesty with yourself, an ability to take a step back from what you've done (that you have a personal attachment to) and to think deeply about how...
View ArticleRAG123 is not the same as traffic lights
I've written regularly about RAG123 since November 2013 and since starting it as an initial trial in November I still view it as the single most important thing I've discovered as a teacher. It's now...
View ArticlePowerful percentages
Numbers are powerful, statistics are powerful, but they must be used correctly and responsibly. Leaders need to use data to help take decisions and measure progress, but leaders also need to make sure...
View ArticleTeachmeet Stratford, build it and they'll come
I went to my first ever teachmeet last year at #TMSolihull, then #LeadmeetCov, followed by #TMCov. I thought they were brilliant, but I was aware that I was one of only 2 people at my school that had...
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Managing with colours - SLTeachmeet presentation
These are the slides I presented at #SLTeachmeet earlier today. Click hereThe info shared in the presentation picks up on aspects covered in these posts:Using measures to improve performanceUsing...
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Pointless marking?
This post is written in response to a "Thunk" from @TeacherToolkit - see here.What's the point in marking?Perhaps a reason that it seems nobody's answered this 'Thunk' before is that it's a bit...
View ArticleFirst month as SLT
A few reflections on my first full month as part of SLT since I started my Assistant Headteacher role at the start of September...If I had to give a single word summary it would be "busy", and perhaps...
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A ragging birthday!
Time flies!Almost exactly a year ago I wrote my first blog post about RAG123 (find it here) which followed a single week trial of an idea that seemed illogical... Mark more often, but write less,...
View ArticleDeliberating on deliberate practice
There is quite a lot written by others more qualified than I about students doing deliberate practise in order to learn or perfect a skill, however I've been thinking recently about deliberate...
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SOLO mats - a 1 page lesson
It's been ages since I did a blog post about a teaching resource, so here we go...I was looking to build in SOLO (For more posts on SOLO see here), some independence and also some structure to a lesson...
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RAG123 as defined by the students
Our head of maths has done a piece of work recently on RAG123 that I think I just have to share...Firstly if you've never heard of RAG123 then look here for my original post on it, and then see here...
View ArticleThe Pareto principle and the great divide
I just scared myself looking at my last post...it was at the end of January! So far this academic year has seen just 5 posts to my blog - in previous years I averaged 1 post per week during term time....
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School's own data in the Ofsted inspection data dashboard
Hopefully if you are involved in secondary school data you will already be aware of the publication of the Ofsted "Inspection dashboards" which are available via the RAISEonline website.However there...
View ArticleLearning lessons from a pro cyclist
A return post after ages away from blogging... In the time since I last posted I’ve been working on a book about teaching and finding a good work/life balance, it’s now finished and on the way to...
View ArticleData isn't always a demon
I've seen and heard quite a lot recently about data being a bad thing and driving high workloads. Indeed Ofsted nod towards this in their most recent framework, emphasising that they plan to ignore...
View ArticleDepartment for Education - Requires improvement or Inadequate?
Alongside lots of sectors the English exam system has been thrown into turmoil by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time ever exams were cancelled in the summer of 2020, and now they...
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