This is awful and the scariest part is that there are some people in this country who think it’s a good thing.

🚨The Petition calling for by-elections to be called automatically when MPs defect to another party now has 43,000 signatures! Let’s get the 100,000 needed! petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

Can all the behaviour gurus out there do me a favour? Specify which sector of education you’re talking about. Because what’s called disruptive behaviours in high school is developmentally normal behaviour in lower primary. Pupils don’t magically stop doing them, primary teachers show them how.

I am writing. Part 1. The tragedy of hidden schools, in hidden communities meganjanedixon.co.uk/2026/01/03/p...

I am writing - here is my first blog of 2026. This year will be the year where I write all those things I promised myself I would write, when I had the time. Now I have the time. meganjanedixon.co.uk/2026/01/02/p...

Good thread. It’s really hard to move the conversation forward if we don’t have agreement on the language used… bsky.app/profile/rlro...

Excellent blog. My main take on Twitter was always: ‘If this was a pub, would I visit?’ I can put up with disagreement, rowdy evenings, occasional fights. But hard life rule: I don’t frequent hooligan pubs.

A variety of boats from this year’s travels. #Boat #TopTravelPics @jollyhobos.bsky.social @lovetwotravel.bsky.social

Absolutely disgusted to hear about the racism Wes Streeting mentions here directed at school children who were visiting Parliament. He has taken the post down, rightly, to protect the children. But it's wrong that he had to do it. Disgusted with so many people in our country. Racism is never OK.

Just added to my Etsy shop: 🌿final small print run of my '26 calendars 🪶my handmade recycled silver jewellery designs (incl intricate casts of real flowers) 🌸limited ed'n mounted art prints of my photos 💐tiny posy mental health kits Last orders for📮 in time for🌲: 19 Nov www.etsy.com/uk/shop/silv...

"The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust are attempting to complete the purchase of the Rothbury Estate, a 15 sq miles (38.8 sq km) tract of former grouse moor, woodland and farmland, with plans to boost wildlife, restore bogs and promote nature-friendly farming." tinyurl.com/38yyvdju

Anyone interested in down sizing and living in a retirement cottage minutes from the sea. It’s full of happy memories and recently reduced to £160K. Please share 🙏 www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...

An elected MP, Reform’s Sarah Pochin says there are too many Black and Asian people on TV - so plain racism - and the coverage of it is buried. Silence and ignorance is complicity, causing lasting damage. When we see racism it’s what we do next, individually and collectively, that matters.

🧵Thread: Oh dear… now, I am picking up signs of what I feared would come- incoherence of policy and practice, with a scattergun approach to doing stuff… www.tes.com/magazine/new...

The Bishop of Birmingham has written to the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about his comments about Handsworth

Many years ago I listened to @samfr.bsky.social at an edu conference. He was discussing what he described as the 4 levers of power that the DFE had to effect change. 1. To issue policy documents and directives and hope that schools took them up. Typically not really considered to be very effective.

Migrants didn't cut council funding. Migrants didn't cut NHS funding. Migrants didn't close youth centres. Migrants didn't sell off council houses. Migrants aren't filling our rivers with sewage. Farage and co. will tell you to point the finger at migrants. Don't fall for it.

A Nursery child draws an elephant with wonderful succinctness. A simple expressive line and perfectly judged areas of tone capture the imagination: “I’ve drawn it for you…It’s sitting down and feeling sad because it’s the last day of school…and his trunk is crumpled up” Utter Joy!

He obviously hasn’t spent any time in a nursery, reception or KS1 class…

Today is the #InternationalDayforCounteringHateSpeech always, it should be, but especially relevant just now.

A great blog. I would love it if he got lots of engagement - enough to make him abandon Twitter and make this his main site.

The Greens now have nearly 200 more councillors than Reform. This is not something you'd be likely to guess from all the copiously salivating media coverage of Farage & his crew of billionaire-backed far-right chancers.

After 2+ years, many rewrites & piloting, I am so pleased that this has been published! A free, online training programme for non-specialist secondary practitioners about the development of reading. Includes practical strategies that can be adapted for any classroom. 1/2 www.gov.uk/government/p...

Morning Bluesky! Have you cancelled a planned trip or move – holiday, work, short-term or long-term – to the USA? Fancy chatting to me about for a piece? @ me or DM if so, especially if you’re located in the UK. (RTs much appreciated too).

Can anyone recommend good short stories for 9 year olds?

Every day I ask what my 4 year old granddaughter has done at her primary school in a North Yorkshire village and every day it's something exciting, relevant and interesting. Primary school teachers and TAs take a bow.

My New Blog - which died a death on X because no one is left... Ofsted - The New Era and basically - A Rant oldprimaryhead.com/2025/02/04/s...

If it's helpful to schools and teachers, below is the link to a year's worth of picturebook assembly suggestions that have a focus on empathy, diversity, equality and inclusion. They're all books I've used and loved. #edusky padlet.com/Jon_Biddle/r...

Anyone want a game of Scrabble, Claire asks. Yes I love card games, shouts Elaine. Christ. Scrabble is when you have to make words, I say. No it isn't, she says, it's when you have to find two the same. That's Snap, I say.

Destroy this myth. Please share if you have visited and researched in a library this past year! RT And give a shout out to your favorite library you have ever visited.

'Unfortunately the truth is, that not everyone has good reason to be happy at Christmas time, no matter how much you cover your corridors in tinsel.' A short Christmas story to remind us what it's really all about. READ: everythingisgoingtobealright.webflow.io/santa-please...

And this is why I never use Santa as an incentive to behave in class. This ‘the elves are watching’ riles me. I’ve taught children who got no presents. And they believe it when they hear about naughty lists.

💬 "As a child, I needed free school meals, as mayor, I provide them."

Are you a headteacher, serving or retired, a deputy or and assistant Head? Of so, could you comment on this thread and I will put together a head teacher starter pack. Please Repost for maximum reach.