I really have no idea how I missed Wild East by Ashley Hickson-Lovence when it first came out. It's one of the finest verse novels I've ever read. A love-letter to the power of poetry, and a storyline that secondary school pupils will definitely relate to. Track down a copy!

Thanks to @egcarr.bsky.social, @counsellc.bsky.social and all the other editors of Teaching History who put in so many hours to put together this amazing journal. For this edition, I really enjoyed writing up my thinking process for an enquiry on Toussaint L'Ouverture.

🚨 History teachers, we’re back! 🚨 Join us on 7 Feb 2026 for a day of workshops and a nice curry – all for £25. Ten years after the ‘knowledge turn’, we’re exploring what knowledge-rich history teaching looks like today. Presenters & link below 👇

Just finished Ben Arscott’s piece on unpacking the enquiry puzzle in TH198. Found myself nodding at a few bits: the difficulty on setting a good EQ and the need to focus carefully on the pupil experience. However I would like to raise some points in the spirit of critical debate /1

Do you remember when we stopped using levels and for a while lots of schools went mad creating even worse versions of levels but with colours and bizarre labels, and measuring things that shouldn’t be measured? Seems a fitting time to mention that happened.

Such an important point made so pithily: "Resist common headings across subjects". So much unnecessary confusion is caused across the sector by a desire for neat and consistent ways to capture and present curricula.

This list of chapter titles looks brilliant. So exciting that pupils around the country can be immersed in these stories.

A brilliant blog which really hits the nail on the head of the pitfalls of using assessment materials to teach. [Effective teaching] "needs the space created by not imitating the assessment over and over"

Really enjoyed @stulock.bsky.social 's session on best bets. He suggests trying to separate the decision from the results: can you think of a good decision you've made which didn't lead to a good outcome?

Great session from @priteshraichura.bsky.social at #rED24 on getting 100% attention. "There's always a vacuum when creating a classroom culture. Either the teacher fills the vacuum or the pupils do."

In session 2 at #rED24, @summerturner.bsky.social challenges some of the questionable uses of CPD time and identifies some solutions.

On the train for #rED24. In session 1, we'll be talking all things KS2 writing, subject communities and thorny questions about assessing writing. Plus we'll be sharing our draft anthology of annotated Y3 writing.

We are going to be at #REd24 #ResearchEd National Conference. Session 1, M23 Come along and find out how we’ve improved the work of English leads and quality of KS2 writing across a whole city and the research base for our work.

Excited to be attending this. @mrsmithnorwich.bsky.social , Hannah Milton and I will be discussing the work we've been doing on trying to improve KS2 writing outcomes across Norwich. We've been doing this by trying to build communities of practice across the city. We'll be in M27 during session 1.

I'm very saddened by this news. I never met Helen in person but her work has been a huge influence on me. Particularly poignant as this summer I have been reworking an enquiry on the seventeenth century inspired by her brilliant EQ: What mattered to people during the seventeenth century?