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A tribute to John Coe.  I knew of John Coe and his reputation as a fierce defender of child-centered primary education, long before I met him. Through his role at NAPE he visited the school I worked in, regularly offering advice and support to myself as Deputy, to the head and staff. I was both impressed and encouraged. When I became a headteacher, John continued with his support, gained the respect and the trust of my staff. John ran meetings and guided us through a residential weekend on child development where, much to his delight, our early years team took the lead. The classroom implications of that weekend led to a substantial reorganisation and introduction of more extensive reading areas around our school. Children, their future, and their development were at the heart of any conversation he had and decision he made as an educator. That also meant teachers and their...

A bit of inspiration at the Reception Concert In December, wearing my governor’s hat, I attended a Christmas concert, given by the Reception children (almost 100 of them), singing seasonal songs, loosely linked to the  nativity theme and delighting their parent/carer audience with a combination of hearty renditions, rhythmic vitality, physical actions and plenty of smiles. The capacity to remember the words of the songs was formidable, and I was also struck by the burgeoning social maturity of the children in the way in which these novices took on board the discipline involved in participation in whole year group events. Of course, there were a few who were less than absorbed in the proceedings and whose commitment to artistic performance has yet to blossom. I was reminded of my own sense of embarrassment when one of my infant sons many years ago crowned a splendid musical ...

Serious concerns about OFSTED are raised by the formal inquiry led by Sir Jim Knight which reported recently.  Beyond Ofsted states that the inspection system is toxic and has created a culture of fear within schools exacerbated by the suicide of a headteacher when her school was judged to require improvement although most aspects of the provision were praised.  Beyond Ofsted makes it clear that the organisation has lost the trust of the teaching profession and, increasingly, of parents.  One-word judgements after a brief visit from a single inspector cannot capture the complexity of what schools undertake.  Knight recommends reform of the inspection system; the current edition of Forum, and an article by the editor address these significant issues comprehensively:         FORUM: Volume 65 Issue 3 (2023...

As Halloween approaches it is perhaps time to face some of our fears about education. There are some people who haven't asked their school what is in the SRHE policy. It is clearly time to put your concerns to one side and make sure the policy, which is probably already available on the school website, is about teaching SRHE and not some imagined monster waiting to ensnare children into a life of degenerate behaviour. Another scare is the prospect of not having enough money to meet the school budget set before the numbers were changed and less money was there. This was achieved through a magical piece of sleight of hand which can surely be undone with the wave of a fiscal wand. Don't worry, help is at hand, Oak Academy are getting an extra £2 million to make sure that AI can be added to the £43 million of lesson plans they have already given you. It is rumoured ...

Our Crumbling Schools, in more ways than one. The government announcement that schools built in part or full, with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) need to close those teaching areas affected. Of course, this was reported just before the beginning of the school term by the Independent Newspaper. Unfortunately, this could be indicative of the crumbling infrastructure of our schools in general. To understand the extent of this particular disruption to school communities, look at the statistics. By the 6th of September, with the warning that there were more schools to come, 82 primary schools out of all the 147 schools had potentially dangerous RAAC according to the Independent Newspaper. You might say that the crumbling infrastructure of schools is overstated. So let us look at another recent headline. ‘England’s special educational needs crisis ‘out ...