NEW BLOG: Do it now or do it when you’ve thought about it a bit more? Sorry for taking a blog holiday! learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2025/10/do-i... #engchat #engchatuk

Call for Papers and Sessions Fantasy’s Present Pasts University of Glasgow Tuesday 23rd – Thursday 25th June 2026 Keynote Speakers: Stefan Ekman, Sofia Samatar and Helen Young More details on the conference in the post linked below - deadline for proposals is Friday 12th December.

October is Black History Month, and the perfect time for readers of all ages to delve into books about Black history. Our brilliant book list includes a wide range of engaging and informative reads for children and young people 📚👇

👀👀 English 4-11 #Reading #ShortStories ⬇️

“…issuing, by the handiwork of Satan, from his grave at night-time, and pursued by a pack of dogs with horrible barkings, he wandered through the courts and around the houses…” —William of Newburgh (c.1136–98) tells of a plague-spreading vampire in Annan, Dumfriesshire #WyrdWednesday #MedievalSky

Sadly many schools are without a library or librarian. #EnglishScotland

Time is almost up to win one of our Book of the Month competitions! ⌛📚 www.scottishbooktrust.com/competitions...

On BBC Sounds: Jackie Kay talks to John Wilson about her childhood in Glasgow as the mixed-race, adopted daughter of a loving couple, & her formative creative influences. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

As with almost every article written about reading in the past few years, this one has inspired a few suggestions that the focus on phonics has caused problems. I'd like to explain why I disagree. >>

💡’Supporting shy pupils to talk in class’ “Confidence that their teacher is sensitive to their needs is likely to breed increased engagement, while we can assume similar for reliable friends being present in their classes.” alexquigley.co.uk/supporting-s...

Hope you're enjoying the last of the summer sunshine with a good book. 🌞📚 #EnglishScotland

That's my school signed up for #ReadingSchoolsWeek our Reading Leadership Group had so many ideas in answer to the questions & completed the application with enthusiasm! One of my favourite suggestions was sharing book recommendations with other #Orkney schools & asking them to do the same💡#ScoEdu

What can we do with a #poem in under 15 minutes? Tune into #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems on Radio 4 tomorrow / BBC Sounds to discover the surprising story behind Auden's 'Funeral Blues'. This episode may interest English teachers, as well as anyone who loves #history. @englishassociation.bsky.social

EXCLUSIVE Education Specialist James McEnaney breaks down the official data on school PFI/PPP projects, exploring the overall costs of the scheme, the value of the buildings being financed, and the organisations turning huge amounts of public money into private profits 👇

We know how crucial primary-secondary transition is - yet in England you're far more likely to be taught by a non-specialist in the first year of secondary than in any other year. Is it the same in Scotland? www.tes.com/magazine/new... @cerysturner.bsky.social @tesmagazine.bsky.social

I find the 'no such thing as transferable skills' narrative interesting because my entire working life has been based around using my transferable skills. (I was originally a dancer and the skills I learned have influenced everything else I've come to do, including writing and teaching.) Thread 🧵⬇️

I'm new here! Please say 👋 or follow.

"It’s all seen as transactional, and she is just an expense – an expendable expense. That’s the worst part." With another specialist school due to close, one parent talks to me about the impact on her autistic daughter. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2548126...

Happy Friday everyone ✨️ #EnglishScotland

“If there is sich a thing as a Author, I’m his favourite chara’ter. He does me fathoms better’n he does you—fathoms, he does. And he likes doing me. He keeps me on deck mostly all the time, crutch and all” —Long John Silver sticks up for himself 🏴‍☠️🦜💙📚 #talklikeapirateday asls.org.uk/publications...

Whatever you do, please don’t stop reading. Read for joy. Read for education. Read for resistance. Read banned books. Read books by marginalized authors. Read about experiences that differ from your own. Just. Keep. Reading.

Bigg School: Selfie Queen by Lisa Williamson. 📚👍🏼 schoolreadinglist.co.uk/childrens-bo... #kidlit Bigg School: Selfie Queen is a lively and relatable story about Cleo Bayford, who learns that true popularity and identity come not from selfies but f...

Applications are open for the 2026 IASH @iashedinburgh.bsky.social / Traverse @traversetheatre.bsky.social Creative Fellow residency, a unique opportunity for writers and theatre-makers to develop bold new work at the intersection of research and storytelling (deadline - 29 Sep 2025)

Recorded on 4 Sept 2025 – Dr Gerard McKeever, lecturer in modern Scottish literature at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, speaks about Walter Scott’s relationship with Scotland, particularly through the lens of his so-called “Scotch Novels” #C19th #romanticism www.youtube.com/watch?v=twvr...

English course reports: N5: www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_cc... H: www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_cc... AH: www.sqa.org.uk/sqa//files_c...

Changes to the length of the H English exam. ⬇️ #EnglishScotland

If it's helpful to schools, below is the link to a year's worth of picturebook assembly suggestions that have a focus on empathy and inclusion. They're all books I've used and loved as a teacher. padlet.com/Jon_Biddle/r...

Susan Ferrier (1782–1854) was born #OTD, 7 Sept. Her 3 novels—Marriage, The Inheritance, & Destiny—are vivid & humorous accounts of Scottish society. Often compared to her contemporary #JaneAusten, Ferrier’s satires are much more vicious… A 🎂🧵 1/8 www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to...

For all the ECTs standing in front of their classes for the first time this term. Remember you’re still learning. Remember you’re not expected to know everything. Remember to ask for help & advice. Find your tribe, always have snacks & put the imposter syndrome in the bin! You’ve got this 😊

Cheers @irvinewelsh.bsky.social! We need more Scottish working class youngsters given the opportunity to write and be heard. 🗞️ Edinburgh Evening News

What do we really mean by “I got my best writing…”? writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/16/w...

9 Sept, Dumfries – tickets £6.13 Celebrating the joint residency at Robert Burns Ellisland Museum of Scots Makar Peter Mackay & former Jamaican Poet Laureate Lorna Goodison – examining how landscape shaped Burns’ writing, & how nature influences their own work www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/amang-the-...

#WritingCommunity! Submissions invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct! Submit free via Submittable 👇 nws.submittable.com/submit

Absolutely this! #EnglishScotland

Is everyone back yet? Any Monday starts? How did your first week go? #EnglishScotland

“Small children from poor or middle-class families who watch ‘Sesame Street’ do better on cognitive tests and in first grade than children who do not watch it,” Renata Adler wrote, in 1972.

To all those #BackToSchool with their pupils today, I hope it's a good one. Especially primary staff with their new classes! 🙌🏻 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #ScoEdu #EduSky

If you’re back at school today may your coffee be strong and your meetings be short with lots of prep time. You’ve got this 😊

MrEST thinks I’ll have FOMO next week when school goes back here. This came up in my FB memories. I’d gone in (unpaid in hols) to set up for the term only to find the CO2 monitor installed like this! So I had extra work & expense to fix it. 🤦‍♀️ It totally sums up what I’m not going to miss!

Good luck to everyone going back to school next week - from all of us at #EnglishScotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The SQA and Scottish Govt spent months defending an internal investigation into major allegations of exam failures. But the new leader of the exam board says he wouldn't follow the same process and that the SQA shouldn't be marking its own homework. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2537729...

Scotland has 18 'Remote Small Towns'. Pupils who live there have poorer exam results, lower literacy and numeracy levels, and are by far the least likely to go to university. Why are those children being left, and why doesn't the government seem bothered? www.heraldscotland.com/news/2537430...

I stand neither in the wilderness nor fairyland but in the fold of a green hill the tilt from one parish into another… —Kathleen Jamie, “The Wishing Tree” SELECTED POEMS (Picador, 2018) #BookWormSat #poem Hear “The Wishing Tree” on @thepoetryarchive.bsky.social poetryarchive.org/poem/wishing...

Really interesting: How likely it is to get an A in different subjects. English is quite far down the lists. So, the likelihood of an A at N5: 40.5% H: 23% AH: 20% Why is it easier to get an A in so many other subjects? #EnglishScotland www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Are fluctuating grade boundaries necessary? #EnglishScotland

📢Updated: our main SQA results day story which has everything you need to know about -pass rates -the attainment gap -A-grade attainment -Higher history -dual entry at N5 and N4 -and how teacher estimates compare to final grades www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Ever wondered what the attainment gap actually looks like? Well here it is. The space between the top and bottom lines is the attainment gap between the most and least deprived pupils as measured in Higher pass rates in 2025. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2536352... @heraldscotland.bsky.social

Our main piece for SQA results day 2025 includes interactive graphs. We'll have updates and follow-up pieces over the next few hours - follow me and @emmaseith.bsky.social tes.com/magazine/new... @tesmagazine.bsky.social