A super day down in Dartford today with Cygnus Academies Trust. All schools, all staff, all thinking deeply about how learning happens with younger learners across the primary phase. Thank you for having me!

Loved joining @emmaturner75.bsky.social and @teacherhead.bsky.social for a chat on @mindthegappodcast.bsky.social this week. Out soon. I've got a new addition to my profile bio out of it...!

Walked my Y5 son to school yesterday. A new EYFS little boy started shouting my son's name excitedly, & proudly telling his dad, "There's my big friend!" Turns out Y5s are helping the new EYFS in the hall at lunchtime. Another example of a small thing for a big sense of belonging.

Really enjoyed recording this episode with Shane and talking about some of my favourite topics: Curriculum in primary, the importance of understanding age and stage, and transition between Y6 and Y7. pod.fo/e/32719c

New episode with @emmaturner75.bsky.social explores why primary-secondary transition shouldn't feel like 'running into a wall.' Her 'brackish water' metaphor completely reframes how we think about preparing children for change. Listen here: pod.fo/e/32719c #EducationLeaders #PrimaryEducation

SDP 2: Influenced by the work of @emmaturner75.bsky.social , her analogies and 'The Curriculum is a Knife and Fork'. We'll be looking at the basic skills and the desirables of our curriculum offer with a focus on writing this year.

In the second portion of our morning, we shared @emmaturner75.bsky.social 's Are We Looking in the Wrong Direction? wp.me/pdbms8-3L with staff. Lots of conversations about what we can do more of or differently to make a difference for our children.

"It is an intensely lazy dichotomy to assume that play or playfulness, joy & delight are the enemies of effective instruction; they are not adversaries to be pitched in explosive battle; they are comrades in arms in a well deployed pedagogical arsenal." @emmaturner75.bsky.social 1/2

I've been mulling on this for a while. It's the first in what will be a longer series of blogs. "Are we looking in the wrong direction?" thinkingflexibly.com/2025/08/03/a...

Apologies to anyone who’s tried to contact me & hasn’t had a response. I’ve had a very nasty accident & won’t be on SM for a while. I’ll catch up with everything & everyone in time but for the next month or so it’ll be v quiet. Thank you to all who’ve already sent best wishes.

Among #EYP2CtW25 contributor & delegate book recommendations @pepsmccrea.bsky.social @jazampawfarr.bsky.social Laurence Rees, @stevemunby.bsky.social @realdavidc.bsky.social Mick Waters @emmaturner75.bsky.social @joshconnolly.bsky.social You can still add via padlet.com/pday1/eyp2ct...

A key phrase from the writing framework that I fear may get lost is around the fact that although it recommends that children should sit in the correct position for specific writing practice, it goes on to say that this does NOT mean they need to sit at tables for the rest of the day.

The finest edu post you’ll see today. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

In the most exhausting half term of the year, when everyone is crawling through each day, the universe then says, ‘Here, have a massive heatwave too.’ Classrooms full of overheated children & melting teachers, some rooms like actual greenhouses & with zero ventilation. What fun.

There are no children deficit in screen time in this country but plenty who don’t have rich opportunities for play, which is critical for healthy human development. Being part of this national steering group is a highlight of my work within primary.

Really grateful for RPs etc @mralmonded.bsky.social, @misssdoherty.bsky.social, @emmaturner75.bsky.social, @emmacate.bsky.social, @kieran-m-ed.bsky.social, @suchmo83.bsky.social

Loving the wide ranging curriculum projects I'm leading at the moment. One of my favourite elements of my work.

Absolutely loved recording this podcast episode; not least for the worst edu-pun I’ve ever made 😂 Bronwyn was amazing - so much sense, detail and energy around what works in T&L and PD open.spotify.com/episode/2VF3...

Absolutely loved recording this podcast episode; not least for the worst edu-pun I’ve ever made 😂 Bronwyn was amazing - so much sense, detail and energy around what works in T&L and PD open.spotify.com/episode/2VF3...

🌟 I'll be in London and in the SW15 area on Tuesday 6th January🌟 I currently have a free slot in the afternoon for that date so do get in touch if you're interested in booking this date for curriculum, CogSci, T&L or subject leadership work.

I'll be speaking for the very 1st time at Wellington this year. I'll be over in Great School building on the Friday with lots of the Walkthrus & In Action team. I'll be talking about some of my very favourite things - age, stage & the importance of these in the primary curriculum. Do come & say hi.

100% Amen to this. The research on its own is not enough.

Today’s leadership advice 😁

I hadn’t realised how far my teaching has gone towards tech first, teacher second. Why? I don’t know. Time poor? Juggling too many subjects? Stress? Lack of physical resources for 33 pupils e.g clocks? Thanks for this reminder. Follow up discussion here open.spotify.com/episode/0SUF...

Truth.

This made me chuckle

New blog thinkingflexibly.com/2025/05/23/h...

NEW: Sure Start generated widespread, long-lasting benefits for children in education, health, absences, and SEND. Every £1 of up-front spending on Sure Start could generate around £2 in total benefits over the long run. THREAD on our new ‪@nuffieldfoundation.org‬-funded report: [1/11]

Flexible working research - contact Hannah Duncan at @canterburyccuni.bsky.social. Thanks #DiverseEd for sharing this:

RE provides a change of pace and a change of space. It is "uniquely human", and an initiation into a very particular form of human knowledge. Religion has always been at the heart of civilisation, says @emmaturner75.bsky.social

It’s Mary Anning’s birthday, so time to share @katebeaton.bsky.social’s brilliant cartoon again.

"Modelling is a dying art. Modelling needs to be our number one strategy for making meaning within our curriculum."

Wise words from @emmaturner75.bsky.social that we completely agree with. That's why all of our classes are equipped with visualisers and all of our teachers have their own 'teacher exercise books' where they model their work and thinking to the class.

If you want to boost your enjoyment of teaching - do this.

I think in our eagerness to stop providing students with models we forgot the importance of modelling. Two very different things.

I thought these sentences summed up the whole... Before digital resources were king of the classroom, modelling was literally front and centre. Teachers had to draw, annotate, explain, unpack and reveal in real time exactly how a text or process or diagram or idea worked. 👍

“Teachers are not simply content explaining automatons, they are bridge builders between the known and the unknown, the misunderstood and the deeply connected. Modelling is the bridge that takes children across this cognitive chasm.” Well said!

Can’t wait for this. Brilliant blogs, research &resource spotlights, resources, short tcr films&our in ‘in conversation’ on Wed 21 May with great guests @emmaturner75.bsky.social @saimasaleh.bsky.social Ruth Flanagan, Liz Manning & John Semmens. P/ship @natre-update.bsky.social link below. #TeamRE

Excellent blog from Emma

Tom is back! Good to see and hear from @teacherhead.bsky.social again, as he, @emmaturner75.bsky.social and @jonhutchinson.bsky.social discuss what’s changed—and what hasn’t—in education during Tom’s time away. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBZ1...

Look out for the IOE project exploring the impact of outdoor play on children's wellbeing 🛝🌳 #UCLMentalHealth

A poignant piece by @emmaturner75.bsky.social that goes applies in life & not just teaching. “… modelling is… the bridge between excellently designed curriculum resources & what subsequently goes on in our pupils’ heads [it’s]… actually the teacher modelling that makes things “click” for students.

"The madness of children being introduced to the parts of a flowering plant via an AI produced image of a plant rather than a real one will never cease to make me shake my head in despair ..."

Very much yes. #UKEd

This is brilliant, and reassures me in a time of the shiny and new.

Emma is one of the wisest voices in UK Primary education and its bizarre that she doesn't have more followers here on Bluesky. Do yourself a favour, read this blog and give her a follow.

Excellent.

Latest blog on the importance but decline of teacher modelling. thinkingflexibly.com/2025/05/11/t...