Blog written by sbladon: https://stevebheadteacher.wordpress.com/2023/01/27/life-after-headship-the-first-week/ "It’s the evening of Friday 20th January, 2023.  I’m sitting in the living room at home, surrounded by cards, gifts and a loving family. I’m trying to work out how I’m feeling. I’m not actually sure how I feel but I’m very tired. I know that much. It’s been a long day. It’s been a long week. It’s been a long few years. It’s been a reasonably long career in education – 24 years – but it’s over, for now. I’ve just left my job as a primary school headteacher. I’ve just said “goo ..read more

As with many things in life, the Ofsted phone call can occur when you least expect it. Even in schools that feel the call should be imminent, the actual call is often when the headteacher least expects it: out of school on a training course or accompanying a school trip. (When I was a headteacher, another head in our cluster made a ‘hoax’ Ofsted call to a head in another cluster school thinking it would be funny… Strangely enough, it didn’t go down that well. Who would have thought?) Ofsted Inspection the Initial Phone Call The initial call is from the Ofsted office to establish that the ..read more

Once again Black Friday is here! We have larger discounts than what we have throughout the year so now is the best time to take advantage. These discounts are valid from today (25.11.2022) right up until 23:59pm on 28.11.2022. All Black Friday offers cannot be used in conjunction with any other discounts currently available. Black Friday Discount on Publications Use the code above to receive 25% off all publications and on-demand training when you spend over £50. This discount cannot be used against any other discount offers we currently have on publications and on-demand training ..read more

Having worked with so many subject leaders recently it’s become apparent that not only are there considerable differences in the time they are allocated to fulfill the role, but also considerable differences in the direction and management of how they fulfill the role, especially when it comes to monitoring and evaluation. I’ll stay clear of the time allocation issue, as to not be too contentious or cause problems for Heads whose subject leaders may read this… Instead, I would suggest it’s worth senior leaders to considering monitoring and the direction they provide for subject leaders and ..read more

After almost 15 years at Talking Point Conference Centre, it’s time to bid farewell to the building and relocate to our new home. There have been countless memories made, not just for the staff at Focus Education, but the people who used the building for functions, weddings, and conferences. Each success has become a huge part of Linda and Clive Davies’ lives as they saw their investment create memories for many people. The former church was bought by Linda and Clive back in 2007, and a complete refurbishment was implemented from this time until 2008 when they moved Focus Education into ..read more

Sadly, cyberbullying is on the rise. While it’s not only a youth issue, there’s no doubt that our kids and teens are taking the brunt of this ugly side of the online world. Much of the issues that drive cyberbullying arise from bullying activities within schools. Today, we take a look at how to address cyberbullying in the school environment, and make the online world a safer place for our children. Cyberbullying Explained Cyberbullying is simply the evolution of bullying activities into the online space. It’s insidious, and tough for the victim to escape because we now live in an always-on w ..read more

PSHE and Deep Dives We know that Ofsted are not carrying out subject deep dives in PSHE; instead gathering evidence for this within the Personal Development aspects of the inspection framework. This includes British Values, which we all frantically introduced with those red, white, and blue displays in our schools back in 2014 when the document was first published, and British Values became a ‘thing’ all of a sudden. 2014? Was it really that long ago? Doesn’t time fly when you’re busy sticking union flags around a silhouette of the houses of parliament? (That well-known bastion of decency an ..read more

Ofsted have recently identified six areas that they will focus on during inspection when carrying out a deep dive in a subject. The stages of a deep dive are well known: the top-level view; the discussion with the subject leader; learning walks; work scrutiny; pupil voice and discussion with teachers. Now inspectors refer to six areas of focus which are being exemplified in aide memoirs for each subject, together with information from the relevant research review where this has been published for a specific subject. The six areas are: Curriculum The emphasis here is on clear subject progre ..read more

Introduction I mentioned in a recent blog for subject leaders the importance of knowing their subject in EYFS as well as the rest of the school. This has been an area for discussion during my recent work in schools, discussing starting points and progression with subject leaders across the full age range of the setting. It highlighted the need for many subject leaders who don’t teach in EYFS to ensure they have a discussion with their EYFS colleagues and gain an overview of the curriculum in the ‘People’s Independent Republic of Early Years’ as it seems to be in many schools. The importance ..read more

The Learning Challenge Curriculum is undergoing some changes… The focus on the quality of education remains Ofsted’s priority when judging if a school is still at least good. If a school wishes to secure a strong ‘good’ outcome then they have to appreciate the interrelationship between the curriculum intent, implementation, and impact. The new learning challenge curriculum, therefore, put greater emphasis on what pupils need to know and remember by the end of each phase of education. In making these revisions we wanted to consider what knowledge we felt important for pupils to know and remem ..read more