Mumsnet: talesbehindtheclasroomdoor

  • Sometimes strict teachers can be the worst at actually helping children learn…

    The news today that assaults on teachers have risen to a five-year-high and that nearly 1,000 children are excluded from school every day got me thinking about behaviour in our schools. I find headlines like this depressing because they actually tell us very little about what is really going on in schools. I suspect, though I…

  • Only Connect — Teach First award winners reveal their secrets…

    I attended the Teach First Awards this Thursday and interviewed some of the award winners afterwards. The ceremony was your average award winning affair: lots of praise for sponsors and quite a bit of back-slapping. I like the Teach First programme because it has at its heart the idea of promoting good teaching — which is…

  • Let’s support the summer reading challenge and get every child reading!

    The Summer Reading Challenge is a really cool project which aims to get schools, libraries and parents working together so our children might actually do some reading they like this summer! For an English teacher like me, this is the Holy Grail: if one of my pupils actually enjoys reading, then everything else follows; happiness…