Want to understand how the proposals outlined in the white paper impact children with speech and language challenges? We’re organising FREE webinars for educators, speech and language therapists and families to talk everything through. Sign up here➡️ https://bit.ly/46gTkpm

SEND is a relationship of the child to services. Disabled in one place and not in another. Same when a wheelchair user goes to the Albert Hall as opposed to their adapted home. Disabled in one place and not another.

Some random evidence, linked to a dubious conclusion and then a solution that just rewords something that has been in use for many years, with some buzzwords. All to sell a new book. 🫣🤷‍♀️

Ummmmm…. I do worry about articles like this.. bsky.app/profile/jons...

This clip is all over the other place and has made its way onto GB News and Talk TV so I’ll do a bit of an explainer here too! The clip doing the rounds is of a fantastic police officer telling a group of Muslim men that a Christian preacher nearby is entitled to freedom of expression. 🧵 1/19

Yesterday we posted a series of blogs outlining the direction we would like curriculum reform to go in and airing some of our concerns about where it might go. Here's an additional blog focusing on assessment www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/curricu...

Had this on my shelf for far too long but so glad I picked it for my half-term read. It would have been even better if I’d read it in Lisbon. A quirky tale with endless twists and turns and such an array of characters!

Free people read freely - unless you live in a council where political interference puts a stop to it. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

I don’t know who needs to hear Jesse Jackson leading the kids on Sesame Street in this beautiful call-and-response reminding them that every child is somebody, but here it is

What do children think writing competency is? 🤷‍♂️✏️ What does good writing at school look like in their eyes? ✏️🤷‍♂️ 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Nigel Farage lashes out at a FT journalist and refuses to answer the question. Is this how Reform UK would ignore media questions if they got into government?

Let’s hope so. Our children deserve better than these out-dated views. bsky.app/profile/spee...

Every woman in the country should look at this, understand it for what it is and vote against Reform. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

🧵So, what works when teaching reading comprehension in the classroom? To a whole class? I dedicated a entire chapter of my Phd thesis to exploring the literature on this. In fact, we do not know a lot about what works when teachers teach, to whole classes. 1/8

It could be framed more positively. 'There is so much that family's can do to develop their children's vocabulary and reading, from reading together and vocabulary games, to little chats on the bus.'

I know this is supposed to be raising awareness and helping… but I am not sure it is. 🙄 @wordaware.bsky.social what are your thoughts? www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

This is why we slowed down our phonics learning and built in a school wide reading for pleasure programme (thank you @teresacremin.bsky.social and team). CLPE has helped us to shift away from atomised grammar and we have 'every place is a reading place' nooks and crannies all over. Our kids ❤️ books.

Fascinating report on the impact of the Science of Reading - findings in a US context reveal the need to move beyond surface level understanding of texts to focus on developing robust comprehension.

A brilliant series of think pieces about English curriculum reform. Now is the time to reinvigorate English in the ways outlined here which reflect the spirit of the CAR.

I know exactly which children I teach will love this short book about families, social media and negotiating it all.

How to teach critical thinking

Free writing CPD materials - covering all aspects of writing teaching writing4pleasure.com/free-writing...

English and Media Centre are interested in whether there are differences between the way poetry is taught at KS2 and KS3 & we’re helping them to build that picture. Add your voice and help us all understand how best to support poetry in the classroom: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MapKS2Colleagues

The writing lives of working-class children writing4pleasure.com/the-writing-...

'When you can’t hide behind averages, you learn to genuinely know every child. When every result matters, you develop interventions that work. These aren’t weaknesses. They’re precisely the practices our education system claims to value' schoolsweek.co.uk/small-school...

It's cheating children and young people out of the writerly apprenticeship that they deserve.

It’s ridiculous, Ross. I despair at this obsession with secretarial skills. We know how to teach writing. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it is complicated. But this is just not the way to do it.

When we talk about growth, opportunity and national renewal, we must think about the mental health of the next generation. #FutureMinds report sets out many of the policy solutions to the mental health crisis. Worth reading – and acting on. www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/wp-content/u...

"Tell us something we don't know," chorus women authors, actors, artists, academics and those in every other profession, all the way through the alphabet. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...

The rise of ‘elaborate dictation’ and ‘writing-related simulations’ in English schools: Unethical writing teaching writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/16/t...

I completely agree with this blog- this is unethical and very poor teaching. It is also encouraged by the Writing Framework (DFE, 2025) and schemes that schools buy into. It is just storing up trouble for children as they move through school. bsky.app/profile/writ...

Anyone else hear Joseph Jebelli on Radio 4 this am? So interesting! A brain science corrective to the 'every second counts' bombardment of young people's brains in some versions of 'science of learning' & current trends like SLANT. Staring out the window & taking breaks may help you learn more!

There's very much a link between the idea that learning is only about the brain ('learning = memory') and the way we see children's bodies increasingly controlled by adults in some settings ('silent corridors'). Even Ofsted is joining in with its current obsessive focus on neat handwriting.

Charity shop haul for my Y1s

"Universities are one of the last places where progressive politics will 'linger' as the country becomes more authoritarian — and [Maugham] speaks of well-funded right-wing organisations increasingly active on campuses... “'We want to be there,' he says. 'We want to be helping.'"

A wonderful old song given a poignant update by @marshfamilysongs.bsky.social

www.gov.uk/government/n... I TOLD you! I said they would start replacing teachers using stolen work from ai apps you all use The only ones who will benefit will be the tutoring companies such as Teachmate AI.

On the back of this article- a thread of useful places for schools/teachers who are interested in finding out more… as I say, this has been a serious issue for a long time… it would be powerful to get a serious handle on it (with obvious impact on ed outcomes). www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

What the KS2 STA teacher assessment writing statements really mean and how to achieve them writing4pleasure.com/2023/04/13/w...

A lack of diversity, primary specialists (esp KS1 and EYs), SEND and a lack of experience working in the north of England. This was the chance for fresh eyes. But, instead we have the same people who have worked on all of this before. A missed opportunity. bsky.app/profile/scho...

Genuine question - what's the next step for the curriculum rewrite? Is it left to two white men to redraft the entire English curric? Or is there an intermediate stage involving all the brilliant, diverse people who work in English education?

Schools can use this assembly to explore Holocaust Memorial Day this week. Children need opportunities to consider lessons we can learn from history no-outsiders-assembly.blogspot.com/2026/01/holo...

The Economist coverage is grim but this is exactly how it should be reported. economist.com/united-state...

And if that video came from pretty much any other country the government line would be treated for what it is: a lie.

People who lack the ability to reason or feel compassion should not have access to the nuclear codes.

'One witness is a woman who filmed the clearest video of the fatal shooting; the other is a physician who lives nearby and said they were initially prevented by federal officers from rendering medical aid to the gunshot victim.'

The nurses are pissed