I've been collating the response to the launch of the Primary Curriculum all week and I wasn't surprised to note that almost every media response was of a "missed opportunity" more...

Interested in reading a year-by-year incomplete summary of special education cuts since 2009? Read on... 🧵 (Full article: simonmlewis.substack.com/p/with-the-...)

Took part in a poetry slam for #culturenight25 with a piece on sourdough starters dying, gym bros fighting and a scene from the Rose of Tralee while trying to tell schoolkids not to get addicted to TikToks. Needless to day, in the background, my son was cringing.

Any foreign-trained teachers out there who would be willing to talk to me on my podcast about their journey through the hoops to get their Teaching Council number?

1/8 📢 New AI Asks Anseo podcast episode is out! This week: Ireland’s class sizes — now at their lowest in 25 years. But does that really mean classrooms are getting better? Let’s unpack. 🧵

NEW POST: What we can learn after the strike has been postponed open.substack.com/pub/simonml...

Preview of new podcast: simonmlewis.substack.com - the complacency of the Department of Education regarding the strike action

NEW PODCAST! When schools stay open during the FORSA strike, who’s really crossing the line? Expect some provocative questions of all of us in education. 🎧 open.substack.com/pub/simonml...

Really quick question for secretaries, caretakers and school staff. If the strike continues, what tasks that can't be done, might force a school to have to close classrooms or the entire school?

1/6 Every year I check the Leaving Cert points for primary teaching in DCU. Every year the result is the same. You need fewer points if you’re Protestant.

1/7 Allianz seems to be under fire. A UN report links its asset manager PIMCO to investments in Israeli government bonds during the Gaza war. The Church and the GAA have been asked to cut ties. But what about schools? 🧵 simonmlewis.substack.com/p/irelands-...

Really blown away by the number of schools that have signed up during their summer holidays to schoolpolicy.ie Nearly 100 in less than a week! This video is what I'm hoping schoolpolicy.ie will (somewhat) eradicate! youtu.be/aUWLueemjBA

Not a can of Dutch Gold to be seen #oasis25

This you? Drowning in paperwork? Let schoolpolicy.ie help you. Free early access available now.

Excellent feedback from a principal on SchoolPolicy.ie: include the ability to output all policies for inspector review in the final version. Get early access now, and we'll keep you updated. www.schoolpolicy.ie

I hope I managed this poison chalice ok! www.irishtimes.com/opinion/202...

Over 50 schools have signed up to schoolpolicy.ie in its first 24 hours. Thank you 🙏 Early access gives schools a chance to play around with the site with a limited number of policies. All feedback is welcome. I want the site to be as useful as possible for leaders.

Wow! I'm a bit blown away by the fantastic reaction to my new website schoolpolicy.ie. Thank you to everyone for the kind words and to those that already signed up. If you're interested, come along to schoolpolicy.ie and let me know what you think!

How you can support the secretaries' / caretakers' strike before August 28th open.substack.com/pub/simonml...

My latest blog post asks if we take religion out of the discussion when it comes to school choice, what would we find?open.substack.com/pub/simonml...

In episode 3 of AI Asks Anseo, we go there - teacher holidays. Though it’s got little to do with education, it’s the main headline from the announced National Convention. Ugh.. I guess we have to cover it. simonmlewis.substack.com/p/ep03-teac...

Over the last few months, I built a web app I thought might be handy for schools. It’s called RotaMate.ie — and it creates and manages staff rotas fairly, instantly, and with zero spreadsheets.

The saga continued today regarding the AON debacle. If you aren't up to date, here is a summary of where things stood last time we checked in open.substack.com/pub/simonml...

🚀 In the last few months, I’ve built 3 time-saving apps for schools: 🟩 Yard Duty Timetable Generator 📅 School Calendar Creator 🔁 RotaMate – rota tool for staff & shared spaces If you have any other ideas for something useful for a school, let me know #EdTech #edchatie

This has all the hallmarks of a reunion of a band from 30 years ago and everyone will look forward to it all year but they'll end up being really bad. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/edu...

I'm doing a bit of a series of very short 12-15 minute podcasts where I get an AI bot to ask me questions on a topic involving primary education. Let me know what you think and if there's any topics you'd like me to cover. simonmlewis.substack.com/s/ai-asks-a...

ChatGPT prompts me. Except hallucinations. simonmlewis.substack.com/p/teaser-ai...

1/10: Ever wonder if a non-Catholic teacher can genuinely teach faith in an Irish Catholic primary school? It's not as simple as you think! Opinions are on a fascinating spectrum. simonmlewis.substack.com/p/beyond-be...

Chalkwashing: open.substack.com/pub/simonml...

We have green washing and pink washing, what are we calling this? www.thejournal.ie/teaching-as...

The first Department of Education in America has different roots to Ireland but is a really interesting listen all the same share.snipd.com/episode/588...

What was your primary education highlight / lowlight / story of the 2024/25 school year? #edchatie

Nice to be back on RTE Radio 1 but not nice to be discussing the huge strain on primary principals - Great work from National Principals’ Forum in highlighting this. (From 1:18:30) www.rte.ie/radio/radio...

Back in 2018, the government created a circular promoting the Bring Your Own Device craze. Today they are banning it. It's a huge U-turn, it could be argued, with good reason. I asked @NotebookLM to investigate it: player.captivate.fm/episode/52b...

Simon this is unreal. Thank you! We run split breaks so the odds go out at 10, evens at 10:30 for example. SET/DP/P could be on duty on any of the 4 yards in a given day. Can this be managed by the software?

You asked for it... Introducing the Yard Duty Rota Generator after weeks of coding, tweaking, and relentless going around in circles! Get ready to revolutionise your yard duty management 🌟 Check it out for free: anseo.net/yard-duty-t...

Pulp @welovepulp in Dublin What a night! Almost 30 years since these two tentatively walked through the doors of the SFX in Dublin All the memories were there as well as some new ones.

What a treat it was to be asked to give a talk in the Irish embassy in Copenhagen! It was part of the Jewish Cultural Festival in Denmark jkfestival.dk/program-202...

Seamus Mulconry, CPSMA, talked school finances on Morning Ireland on RTE. He did well despite the lack of time given to the segment. This image sums up the government response

Working on my Yard Duty Timetable Generator. Progress so far: it’s generating a very unfair timetable!

My 10-year-old is finding Maths word problems a bit tricky so I decided my next project would be to harness AI to help me develop an app that will motivate him. He's mad about planes at the moment so that's the theme. This is what it looks like so far with sample data:

Introducing my latest tool Generate your 2025-26 calendar for the primary school year and set up job-sharing effortlessly with my new web app. Check it out now: t43dvuyl.sibpages.com

Not sure if this will be of use but I used @NotebookLM to make a 12 minute summary of the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme and what you need to know. If you can ignore the American-isms, it's fairly helpful though it seems obsessed with bike sheds! notebooklm.google.com/notebook/92...

This issue isn't going away. There's a general consensus emerging and we need to stop ignoring it www.irishtimes.com/opinion/202...

Very happy to have my first publication in The Forward about the complexity of being Irish and being from a Jewish ethnicity. forward.com/opinion/717...

In 1969, They Defended Corporal Punishment. In 2025, It’s Patronage. simonmlewis.medium.com/in-1969-the...

I was really anxious about the new MFL curriculum so I spoke with Roisin Brady from Languagenut and, honestly, I feel a lot better for it. Have a listen: pod.fo/e/2cae76

1/13 One of the most unhelpful outcomes of the INTO Congress was their use of the word "secular" which they used in their survey on religion in schools and consequently since. Here's why:

🧵 Playing around with @NotebookLM to create podcasts has been eye-opening. Given the day, I used it to dissect how the media's been reporting on the upcoming Congresses. Listen to the podcast and share your thoughts. Here's some of my own: notebooklm.google.com/notebook/a6... 🎙️

I developed a webapp for my holiday in Barcelona, which allowed me to plan each day using a drag and drop schedule. It's very simple but happy to share the code for anyone that wants it for their own holiday.