The idea of routines in the classroom might be a bit of a turn-off for some, but they aren’t about creating robot children who don’t thin...

My latest for TES can be read here:  https://www.tes.com/news/ditch-three-part-lesson-and-remodel-these-8-things-mind

Actually '7 Ways To Choose Artists, Artworks and Artistic Movements For Your Primary Curriculum' would have been a more accurate tit...

“Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject…” But is it really, in your school? I mean, it could be. But how...

"This lesson just got interesting," exclaimed one of my more vocal pupils. No, I hadn’t just introduced the latest piece of ...

I had the immense pleasure and privilege of putting together a list of some of the best primary children's books of 2018. I ended up ...

Perhaps the phrase "work-life balance" is a misnomer. Or at least it was rather too simple a term to help me to get things in c...

Reading for pleasure is all the rage in schools, but how often do we, and the children we teach, read for displeasure? Or, perhaps more a...

We’ve known about the proposed key stage 2 multiplication check for a while now, but have so far been waiting for more information about ...

Once upon a time there was a spreadsheet and on that spreadsheet there was lots of interesting pupil data. Very helpfully, the spreadsh...

This piece that I wrote for the TES outlines a few questions that I have been asking myself about formalisation of teaching in the Early ...

This might come across as idealistic or cynical. It might even sound hypocritical to those who’ve taught Year 6 alongside me. But there real...

So far, I’ve successfully taught two of my three daughters to ride a two-wheeled pedal bike. While I learned to cycle the traditional wa...

“I left school at 14 and look at me now: I’m a millionaire!” “I didn’t get anything higher than a C in my GCSEs but now I’m a celebrate...

https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/job-hunting-how-do-you-know-if-youre-ready-move-schools Scouring job adverts, visiting...

Another personal blog post about reading (sorry). This one was hugely enjoyable to write due to the fact that books are not just bound an...

Unless you completed your teacher training in a parallel universe, where everything is perfect, you will have picked up on the fact that “wo...

Recipe for ruining great books: Step one: Take a bona fide classic, fresh or preserved. Step two: Hack out palatable chunks (never use t...

https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/10-tips-successfully-leading-a-subject So you've been given a subject to lead. ...

To my brilliant year six teachers, Thank you and well done for all your incredibly hard work this year. I could not have asked for mor...