I have been asked by a National Newspaper for my thoughts (I wonder why I was asked??) and I know that it has been cut down to a “soundbite” (it happens and I can live with that !) so here is my initial uncut version with more added to it. I will be back later … Read more
So where are we? 2 weeks on Thursday the vast majority of our cohort nationally will be sitting the penultimate Summer sitting of the linear maths GCSE as we know it and Thursday Ofqual are due to announce the findings of their research project. We were told originally to expect news at the end of … Read more
I am increasingly aware of how lucky we’ve been in terms of recruitment. I’ve always said that “it” (I’m talking UK-wide here!) isn’t just about recruiting new people to the profession – we need to look at retention too. It’s a false economy to just keep throwing time and effort into feeding the funnel without … Read more
The long awaited day has arrived and I’ve been doing my own version of an impatient child checking the DFE site and clicking refresh to see if the promised findings had been published and so what a treat it was for me when THIS POST this appeared on the blog pages of Ofqual. I was so … Read more
Study leave or not? that is the question! There is always some debate at this time of year about how different schools structure their study leave and lots of schools now run a “revision timetable” once the exam season starts; I have recollections of having my last day at school where shirts got signed and … Read more
OK so it’s not mid-week yet but I have my last ever parish council meeting tomorrow (it’s the annual general meeting so not an “actual” meeting) and I will officially no longer be Councillor Muldowney having made the decision to not stand at the next election so won’t be around to do my usual midweek blog post. When … Read more
Just a quickie … busy, busy, busy … We’re on the home run with year 11, but we’ve already started reflecting on what went well and what we need to refine from September and post the GCSE exam is a good time to introduce new routines to embed them prior to the start of the … Read more
Occasionally (ok quite a lot of the time!) I see resources and think “ooh that’s a great idea” and last week I was shown OCRs “check in” tests .. which are just brilliant. Check them out in the “Teaching and Learning” section at the bottom of this page Basically it’s a way of assessing the … Read more
I’m just home having spent the last 3 days of the Easter Holiday at Keele University for the annual conference of the Mathematical Association and I’ve come away with loads to think about as you do after events of this type. Subject associations and where they “fit” in the day to day grind of teaching … Read more
Just a quick update about the GCSE debacle. I am not letting this lie! I know I’m a stubborn sod but this is not about ego, it’s about making the right decision and to reuse a quote I’ve used in one of my letters: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is … Read more
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