Special school Ofsted inspection report cards will no longer compare their cohorts to national mainstream averages after complaints from heads https://schoolsweek.co.uk/special-school-ofsted-report-cards-drop-mainstream-comparisons/

🚨NEW PODCAST🚨 SEND reforms are on the way, but are they the right reforms? @samfr.bsky.social and @mrjlauder.bsky.social join me to discuss the Government's proposals for changing how children and young people with special needs are supported. Listen here: insideyoured.com

In my latest podcast, @missmc.bsky.social said the Schools White Paper would have been better off replacing many of its 'one line policies' with more substantive plans for change. Listen to the full episode here: insideyoured.com

As ‘Low Expectations’ are in the air again, here’s a polemic I wrote about origins of ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’ soundbite a decade ago. Whilst some things have changed, I’d still argue that ‘low expectations’ is unhelpful sleight of hand… icingonthecakeblog.weebly.com/blog/attacki...

Here's @profkime.bsky.social doing so many jazz hands that he's entering some sort of dimensional shift 👐 #rEDScand26 #rEDScan26 #rEDHan

And here are the slides from my presentation, including the error on page 9 - Primary progress (Student Growth) is a change between Y2 and Y6 (soon to be YR-Y6) 😎 www.databustingforschools.co.uk/uploads/3/3/...

What makes a great teacher? "One who is willing to do what it takes to be demonstrably more effective next year than this" #redscan26 #redscand26 #redhan

This year there is far less AI. A couple of years of peak and now educators have tried it, taken what works and moved on? #redscan26 #redscand26 #redhan

Final count down to #rEDScan tomorrow #researchED Livestreams, session details and more available here: www.haninge.se/researched/

Looking forward to discussing England's Lessons in Student Data from the last decade at #rEDScan this Saturday! #Haninge #researchED

The program for researchED Scandinavia in #Haninge is now live 🎉 #rEDScan March 14! Pi-day! Check it out researched.org.uk/event/resear...

Looking forward to presenting in Sweden on 14th March for researchED Scandinavia. My session will be on driving school improvement where I’ll also be sharing some research from my upcoming book ‘The Attention Blueprint’. I’ll be in room 2324 session one. www.miriamhussain.education

I've been appointed a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences - which is quite cool given I'm not a social scientist. Hoping for physics next. acss.org.uk/news/the-aca...

Just shows how much contempt Reform has for their own supporters. This is a policy that helps the kids of the wealthy educated liberal elites they claim to despise. And would harm the types of constituency they do well in.

We're really excited to announce that @insighthq.bsky.social @jpembroke.bsky.social @richardselfridge.bsky.social will be running their 'Databusting Surrey with the Educakers' event with us in June. Have a look at the link below for more information. We'd love to meet so many of you in person!

Thanks @richardselfridge.bsky.social for sending this. Proposed change to DfE performance bands, away from confidence interval-based approach to a simpler quintile method. Whether it gives useful info is another matter schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-wants-to...

Unbreakable - Keiino Øve Os På Hinanden - Fyr & Flamme Higher Ground - Rasmussen - Take Me To Your Heaven - Charlotte Nilsson Euphoria - Loreen #FridayFive (and restraint not to have Keiino for all five 😍)

Join @jpembroke.bsky.social and me as we look under the hood of the IDSR in the latest Insight Inform podcast. www.insightinform.co.uk/podcast/ Please listen, comment and repost!

*DATABUSTERS LIVE* Join us in beautiful Derbyshire. Details below.

Looking forward to discussing the Ofsted toolkit and DfE performance measures, amongst other things, at Databusting Derbyshire on Friday 27th February. Join @jpembroke.bsky.social & me as we bring our latest Databusters Day to Ashover. More detail & tickets: www.insightinform.co.uk/event/databu...

*DATABUSTERS DERBYSHIRE* tickets now available for the first of our Databusters days. Join us in beautiful Ashover on the edge of the Peak for a whole day of data fun. Morning focused on accountability/IDSR; afternoon on assessment, tracking, reporting. www.insightinform.co.uk/event/databu...

#FridayFive is nostalgic. 1. Think for a Minute. Housemartins 2. Def Con One. Pop Will Eat Itself 3. I Wanna Be Adored. Stone Roses 4. Green Issac. Prefab Sprout 5. Spotlight for Sunshine. Gavin Clark

1. 1880 or So - Television 2. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson 3. 1963 - New Order 4. 1969 - The Stooges 5. 1901 - Phoenix #fridayfive

New for me for Insight Inform: The Data Wave Returns? The data wave has been receding. Are there signs that it may be about to return? www.insightinform.co.uk/2026/01/30/t... Please read, comment and repost!

It’s Thursday at BETT and we’re at Stand SL54 in the Wonde Marketplace once again! If you are here, come and talk all things school data over a Wonde Coffee ☕️ #BettUK2026 #DiscoverEdtech #WondeDiscover

It’s time for #WondeDiscover #DiscoverEdtech #BettUK2026 Looking forward to three days of madness with @insighthq.bsky.social - we’re on SL54, if you’re here, come and say hello!

The Databusters are getting the band back together and going on the road with a new one-day course: AM: external data: IDSR, ASP, performance measures PM: internal data: TA, tests, SEND, reporting to parents/govs @insighthq.bsky.social schools, get in touch if you’re interested

The first Ofsted reports under the new Framework are out (filtered for Primary Schools): reports.ofsted.gov.uk/search?level...

This is pretty urgent if you want a ticket …

For anyone who likes a a bit of electronic eclecticness, here’s my end of 2025 mix; a bit of acid techno followed by some house, DnB and left field down tempo beats. Enjoy! www.mixcloud.com/richardselfr...

Lunch with old school friends in Newcastle; perfect end to the festive season 😎 Crown Posada & the Broad Chare, the Quaysde and a bit of snow. Happy New Year, everybody!

Excellent suggestion from Laura for using LLMs to make life easier. Another good use: Tell a LLM which cook books you like, what your household’s food quirks are, then ask for a weekly menu plan. Then ask it for a shopping list. Game changer!

Here are almost 40 of my favourite #MiddleGrade reads for 2025. A fantastic range from wild fantasy, to gritty realism, historical adventures and more than a few scares. What a brilliant year its been for children’s books

The Governors’ Gateway has launched! We’re delight to share a new learning platform built for the realities of school governance. It’s the brainchild of @catherinepriggs.bsky.social and we know it will be so helpful for governors. /1

Policy Analysis: Why VAT on private school fees will raise more than planned, and why it matters barryblack.substack.com/p/policy-ana...

Data-informed #SATs prep strategies for 2026 | via @richardselfridge.bsky.social

Rachel Reeves' Budget sparks warnings about a drop in school funding, despite announcing cash for school libraries and books. Here’s how the sector has reacted…

Government plans to absorb the spiraling cost of SEND provision within central budgets will leave it facing a £6 billion annual shortfall, with no savings yet identified to meet it, the spending watchdog has warned https://schoolsweek.co.uk/government-faces-6bn-send-shortfall-once-override-ends/

NEW POST: Why designing the Year 8 diagnostic maths test might be harder than you think We explore the technical and design challenges of creating genuinely useful diagnostic tests, based on @nuffieldfoundation.org funded research. vist.ly/4ey4q

#Schools face AI attendance targets despite record fall in student absence. Attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE) to be issued this month. Frustration from @ascl-uk.bsky.social @naht.org.uk who say many factors leading to absence are beyond school control: buff.ly/m1fBe5D

Excellent question from @missmc.bsky.social at Norfolk School Leaders’ Association conference

Out and about with @InsightHQ.bsky.social today - at the Norfolk School Leaders’ Annual Conference, kicking off with @missmc.bsky.social ’s Key Note, ‘Education Trends 2025: What’s coming now and next?’

@richardselfridge.bsky.social and I will be organising some of our awesome Databusters events to look at IDSR, performance measures, and use of assessment data in schools. Watch this space for dates.

PS - the curriculum review report can now be viewed in full here: www.gov.uk/government/p...

So, first skim reading of the curriculum and assessment review and despite several mentions of the need not to increase volume... There are plenty of examples of adding new content and I can only find one of removing anything - and that's GPS where the caveat is increasing the stakes of the test

New IDSR is out Sample here: idsr.ofsted.gov.uk/exampleprimary Thoughts?

We had our first DISCO at Brentford two weeks ago. Next stop Wigan and Birmingham. New format, same awesomeness. A whole day of chunky data goodness. disco.org.uk

#FridayFive is pleasantly lost. 1. Mushaboom. Feist. 2. Hotel California. The Eagles. 3. Moonlit Mile. The Rolling Stones. 4. Time after Time. Cyndi Lauper. 5. America. Simon and Garfunkel.