My absolute favourite question on @teachertapp.bsky.social today. (Nb: we do actually compile and send over to their advisors, if they’re willing to receive them… so don’t forget to get onto TT and answer!)

If you want to read the nice things people said about this which I *did* want in the paperback edition, here you go:

some days you sit down at work and intend to work, and you intend to work all day, and then the day is over. but you haven't worked, you haven't worked at all. you spent a whole day intending, sincerely intending, to work. but you didn't work. why are you like this.

NEW POST: The vital flexibility of EOTAS provision is at risk from the new SEND proposals, says Joanna Gibbs of SENsational Tutors. She says the lack of details about alternative provision and specialist tutors is worrying families who rely on it. www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-reform-...

Parents! Carers! Anyone running some sort of holiday play scheme! Here's a thread of some "arts & crafts" activities which are fun and easy and have a science / engineering theme:

Off to summer camp with the children’s online class provider shortly. Best thing about this is that, despite them being an international provider, the camp is half an hour from my house and R is old enough to be the responsible adult, so I get to come home and sleep in my own bed 🎉🎉

In the height of our Laura and Mary phase, after tea each night we had family recitations, where everyone memorised (or sometimes read) and recited a poem or extract to the rest of the family. We even had a McGuffey’s Reader.

Be like Michelle and make this your summer reading too. CHARLIE HIGSON says it's brilliant (not a friend of mine and my publisher did not send it to him - he actually read it!) and one of our best living children' authors, Hilary McKay, described it as the "mango ice cream of science books"

Last governor meeting in school after 5 years, 3 as Chair. We faced some challenges together and I hope that alongside a wonderful team and community I did my bit. The work is never over (!) and I’ll always have a space in my heart for this place, but it’s a good time to pass the baton.

And should have inbuilt understanding that PP and SEND children are not one homogeneous group.

The question shouldn't be 'How effective are your strategies for PP, Send and inclusion'. The question should be 'How effectively do you raise the quality of inclusion provision for all children, including send and pp'. In my opinion.

Episode 4 of "Inside the Reading Gap" is called Hope. Reading problems are solvable, and in this episode we explain what it takes to do that, and that we can achieve far more than is usually thought possible. Thank you to @ReadEasyUK for sharing their adult learner success stories.

Who doesn't love a bit of gossip?

Last chance to sign up to our substack at 25% off for a year. Just a few hours left... samf.substack.com/p/summer-sal...

Flexi-schooling finally makes it into the newly released School Attendance guidance (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a4f9e...) - previously it has only been mentioned within the EHE non-stat guidance documents.

A lot of people want to target non-chronological algorithms - social media feeds that aren't just time-based. But some algorithms are necessary - YouTube would be pretty crap without them - and having regulators try and decide which algorithms are "good" and which are "bad" is asking for a mess.

Evidence Informed? My recent speech from ResearchED on why I'm so worried about our direction of travel and why once again we may need to fight for evidence informed education. bennewmark.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/e...

For those who support students preparing for TMUA (used by Oxford, Cambridge and many other aspirational universities for Maths/Comp Sci/Econ), I made a few free resources, including: www.tes.com/teaching-res... and www.tes.com/teaching-res... although my favourite is www.tes.com/teaching-res...

That @naomialderman.bsky.social is so fucking brilliant. If you've found yourself falling out the reading habit, she has created a kind of Couch-to-5K of reading open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...

I see a lot of people saying they think an apprenticeship will suit their child. But few seem to be aware that an apprenticeship is a *job*, with the same need to find availability and go through a competitive application process as any other job.

“None of them seem to understand that an apprentice needs an employer.” - fantastic piece on why the UK’s politicians keep calling for apprenticeships while providing fewer and fewer:

Posting to check my answer later :)

That's it! Every single diagram uploaded to my site. This is the next step, after my books, in developing a community I'd like to be part of. christianmooreanderson.com/models/ #EduSky #UKed #iTeachBio

Had an absolute blast at Festival of Ed sharing my EdD research for the first time with teachers!

“I did find fairies in our cement and weeds, Daddy”. Iykyk.

Having a department clear-out and there are a lot of old books that we need to dispose of. Free to good homes if anyone is interested in any of them! (I can't deal with postage sorry, so would have to be Surrey, West Sussex or Portsmouth area to do a hand-over)

Last home ed group for N today as he heads off to college for A levels in September. I started the group that led into this one when I was pregnant with him. It’s been a privilege watching these kids play for all that time.

That slide marks the 600th day of TGT. 600 school days without missing one. This little project of Chris and I keeps on going. Tell us how you use TGT or why you don't, yet. Feedback is a gift. bit.ly/TGT_Survey

I thought I was joking when I said I should get a badge made so that people recognise me at the Festival of Computing, but Amazon allowed me to take that joke too far! #TeamCompSci

Note to everyone writing about devolution these next days from someone involved in the policies of it at my own city (Liverpool Region who works close with Manchester!) Check the outer regions of the city! It can be vast spread & your missing the reality here. #Journalists #Burnham

Believing that socio-emotional skills are important and believing that we know how to impart them effectively in a school system are two very different things. alejandroganimian.com/files/ganimi...

I've realised the reason I enjoy the internet mostly is that I do NOT doomscroll. I post. I'm a poster, at heart. Watching the world's horrors does make you sad. But posting stupid nonsense and replying to other people's? I recommend it.

This is the bit I keep coming back to. It isn’t about lowering expectations. It’s about whether the system recognises different starting points, routes and evidence of progress. If accountability only rewards one narrow path, inclusion will always be fighting uphill.

I'm still working on building a community of biology teachers playing the same teaching game, exploring and sharing the best moves and models. As a first move, I wrote my books; now I'm sharing every model I've designed and taught. christianmooreanderson.com/models/

There are plenty of times I miss living and working in London, even after 18 years of rural home ed. This week, mind you, has been one for thinking I may have made some good life choices.

Rewatching Halt and Catch Fire and honestly I think this is the best series for really getting the early stage computer scene. I was in it about 15 years later than it’s set - and in a much less externally exciting area - but it very much resonates.

This Academic year has a pupil shown you an example of skill they have learned or knowledge acquired from a YouTube video? We can all ask #leadingquestions

People from lower socio-economic backgrounds are under-represented in think tanks. This amazing opportunity (which am proud to say the @smfthinktank.bsky.social is one of the host orgs for this year) is looking to change that. A genuinely entry level role... www.smf.co.uk/new-opportun...

27 degrees will be on the cool side in the next five days... The article goes on to cite research that behaviour gets worse above 25 degrees.

Also, just as a footnote, as a parent of someone at secondary school, the persistent use of ed tech in the classroom and for homework seems to have actively negative impacts on learning and be a direct consequence of austerity. This feels like a huge contributor to the coming skills crisis

We’re incredibly proud to release our 4-part podcast on illiteracy, which has been 18 months in the making. We hope you find the conversations with our knowledgeable guests informative and hope that you will be inspired by the stories of changed lives. Link below 👇🏼

There’s a lot of hope and action from Labour about ‘in-sourcing’ - ie you get rid of private providers and run everything yourself. Has anyone done any thinking/writing/modelling on this? As in, what’s the hypothesis for why and how this will improve things? Links & reading suggestions welcome!

Is behaviour worse in primary schools than secondary schools? HUGE new episode with Cathie Lock exploring all sorts of things: behaviour, leadership, literacy, curriculum and more! Tune in and share if you can 🙏 open.spotify.com/episode/437E...

The UK government has announced plans to introduce a social media ban for under-16s by spring 2027. @profsanderlinden.bsky.social reacts to today's news, and measures it against the evidence we already have about social media restrictions.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... @classicsshrewsbury.bsky.social spot a quote from one of your ex-students :)

And that’s a wrap on GCSEs for N this season and on home ed for him forever (unless something goes drastically wrong with plan A of college next year!). Down to one now…

Time for me to repeat one of my ‘sayings’. If you try to solve a problem by passing a law, but people don’t obey the law, you now have two problems where you used to have one.

Think it's part of a broader problem in British politics which is this expectation that nothing bad should or will ever happen to people, which is an admirable and understandable view that parents have of their own children, but you can't run a flourishing society or an economy on that basis.

re the day's debate - I get that I was pretty precocious but I did move to an entirely different country where I didn't know anyone, by myself, at 17 years old, and I'm yet to regret it for even one moment, and I hate that we're apparently building a world where 17yos as seen as babies instead?

I'm sorry but I am just regularly very disturbed by how some adults talk about young people over the age of 16. (Or as they are in fact better known 'other adults'.)