Author Archives: Joe Kirby

When under pressure, go upstream. Work out what to preempt. “We need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in” Desmond Tutu The parable of the … Continue reading →

QA warps time, trust, thinking, teaching, leadership and learning. Dismantle it. Beloved of bureaucrats, the central problem with Quality Assurance (QA) in schools is that it is for top-down management and overrated compliance, and not for frontline teachers or staff.  … Continue reading →

  At Athena, we dream of becoming a leading champion for teachers, headteachers and school support staff.  We dream of creating a world where… All kids get to go to a great school All trusts work together for all children … Continue reading →

Scrap meeting misery. Let’s turn our get-togethers into great conversations.  *** Time is a school’s scarcest – and most often squandered – resource. One of the biggest gripes from teachers and school leaders is they spend too much time in … Continue reading →

How can schools best work together? A question on the minds of the best school and trust leaders I know. And it’s part of the reason we started Athena. Athena is a learning trust, a family of schools, that we … Continue reading →

Knowing where we’re going in school improvement – heading for great learning, great knowledge, and a great student and staff experience – lets us light the way for those around us.  Millions of teachers, headteachers and school staff all round … Continue reading →

‘We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.’ The Crucible Asking and listening to our headteachers, and sharing our questions and thoughts with each other as heads, could help us help our schools.  There are over 2 … Continue reading →

How can we as school leaders support teachers and staff? How can we as teachers and staff best support each other as colleagues and allies?  Nothing matters more than people in schools, and each other. One of the most scarce … Continue reading →

Knowing our brains’ struggles can help us learn, and help others learn.  Classrooms: ‘It’s only a wasp! Ignore it!’ [uproar] ‘Got it, everyone? All clear?’ [tumbleweed] “Great!”  ‘You should know this! We only did it last week!!’ [blank looks] Staffrooms: … Continue reading →