Category Archives: Education

QA must die

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

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Athena dreams 

  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

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No More Meetings

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

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How Athena sees the world

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

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Snowball Uplands: where do we want to get to in our student and staff experience?

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

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The Crucible: Hearing our Headteachers

‘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

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Hornets, Slugs, Bees and Butterflies: not-to-do lists and the workload relief revolution

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

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The great brain battles in learning

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

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What’s the point in school?

Why are we here? What’s the point in school?  Both kids and adults in schools from time to time tend to wonder…  Teachers, school leaders and parents when in schools rarely have the headspace to think to ourselves, or to … Continue reading

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What are the problems we are trying to solve?

As school leaders, what are the problems that we can best focus our thinking and action on? What are the most useful questions to ask together? ***   School strategy problems: how can we make our school improvement efforts cohere?  … Continue reading

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