Well, I'm back at the glorious Lyme Regis Museum today for another full-on day of Jurassic Art! 😮 We're making 'Paper Plate Plesiosaurs' and I'll be perfecting that tongue twister all day. 😆 If you're around, come and join in. 👍🙂 www.darrellwakelam.com #edusky #UKEd #artworkshop #museum

Cyber hygiene is one of those terms that sounds good but doesn’t work. Because we all have different ideas of what hygiene is. Some people wash daily, other people wash their towels and sheets once a year. There is no “standard” and so how do people keep tech “clean”? They don’t.

Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · 18h ago

Their conclusion about what this all means is better cyber hygiene. I would suggest policymakers might also wish to come back to questions of agent liability and who is responsible when things go wrong

Was with a group of friends (all grandparents) this morning. They were commenting on the Athena scandal. Everyone was frankly appalled by the fact they expected a silent music lesson. They all harked back to their time in primary school, and the fun they had making “music“.

Just had a quick look through the education press. It is fascinating to see how most of the articles are aimed at secondary schools, with very little coverage of primary and EYs. It seems that secondary voices are still dictating much of education policy and practice.

Did you spot our chief scientific officer Simon Vincent on BBC Breakfast this morning? He spoke about how new research has found that NICE referral criteria used by GPs can miss up to 95% of women under 50 who go on to develop breast cancer within 10 years.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... I think it is sad that it down to parents to complain, that teaching staff are too afraid, or conditioned to harm to do anything. And the government advisor, Tom Bennett quoted here as saying zero tolerance helps ADHD children - schools can be catalysts for harm.

How parents and pupils took on 'cruel', 'authoritarian' schools - and won

Discipline at an academy trust went too far - parents, pupils and former teachers tell BBC Panorama.

bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How parents and pupils took on 'cruel', 'authoritarian' schools - and won

Discipline at an academy trust went too far - parents, pupils and former teachers tell BBC Panorama.

bbc.co.uk

More changes.. when will it ever end? bsky.app/profile/scho...

Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 3d ago

ICYMI: Changes to school inspections to better recognise preparation of children for work will be made through Ofsted’s 'annual update process', the watchdog has said schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-would...

ICYMI: Changes to school inspections to better recognise preparation of children for work will be made through Ofsted’s 'annual update process', the watchdog has said schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-would...

Ofsted would enact Burnham plan via annual 'update process'

It suggests proposals for greater parity of esteem would not require a full framework re-write

schoolsweek.co.uk

As were Early Years settings.

Yep. I remember SLT painstakingly splitting to whole school roll in 2 taking account of siblings, step siblings, half siblings, merged families as we thought we’d be going back on half capacity alternate weeks. Loads of difficult painstaking work. Then told everyone would be back all together.

I get very angry with the ‘schools were closed’ myth. If it hadn’t been for the majority being open most key workers would have had o stay at home. And yet the profession were put on the naughty step and we’ve never got off it!

Yes we had hubs for the children of key workers and vulnerable children. They were scared for their parents’ safety and worried about taking the virus home from school.

And I’m going to add that the children knowing the adults couldn’t keep them safe and the adults knowing they couldn’t keep the children safe is the root of the mental health crisis we’re now seeing.

And receiving new guidance at 10pm on a Friday evening or sometime on a Sunday to put into place for Monday morning.

And returning to face to face wasn’t much better. Lunches in classrooms Monitoring the CO2 monitor & teaching with coats on and windows wide open in January. Not needing masks in classrooms but needed in corridor (open plan!). Cheap hand gel which gave everyone dermatitis. Regular testing.

Thread. This is what the pandemic was like for teachers in schools. Schools were open ALL THE WAY THROUGH the pandemic. Let’s not forget what it was like for some, whilst others were partying. bsky.app/profile/eyes...

Teaching with my eyes shut@eyesshutteacher.bsky.social · 3d ago

As everyone seems to be discussing schools closing during the COVID pandemic here’s a reminder of what it was like here 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 just before the first lockdown. 🧵 I was teaching 33 P7s (11-12 upper primary) in an open plan classroom 5m x 10m. Covid was thought to be transmitted by touching surfaces. 1/

I was given a code by Gov Uk to her Sainsbury’s online at the time. I hardly ever shop in a supermarket now. I’ll go to Aldi to get things for a cheaper shop but generally still buy online. Watching the scenes in Italy made me protect my Mum.

We were all terrified of so much. My biggest fear wasn’t that I would die but that I would bring it home to MrEST and kill him. I only had online groceries and wiped them all before putting them in my cupboards.

My Mum & I started shielding on February 16th 2020. It was November 2022 before I set foot in a shop. The only public place I had been since August 2022 was the hospital as my Mum has bowel cancer. She had surgery October 2022. I bought her slippers that November. I was terrified going in the shop.

They were worried. We were worried. We couldn’t promise we’d keep them safe because we were didn’t think we could. We were all very scared. Yes moving to home learning caused huge learning gaps & social difficulties. But it stopped us killing our families. 3/end

As a result we all had to wash our hands for 20 seconds when we came in, before & after break, before & after lunch & before going home. One sink. 66 minutes minimum a day of handwashing. Then wipe tables with wipes 4 times a day. The pupils knew there was a deadly disease out there. 2/

As everyone seems to be discussing schools closing during the COVID pandemic here’s a reminder of what it was like here 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 just before the first lockdown. 🧵 I was teaching 33 P7s (11-12 upper primary) in an open plan classroom 5m x 10m. Covid was thought to be transmitted by touching surfaces. 1/

Good morning & welcome to Roast Dinner Day What feels like falling behind might simply mean you’re travelling a different road. Life isn’t a race, and you don’t have to keep pace with anybody else. Take your own route, at your own speed, and enjoy what you find along the way.

Excellent thread here

Carrie@carrieprimary.bsky.social · 4d ago

I see the ‘trauma doesn’t need different teaching’ is doing the rounds again. I don’t often comment because it’s a bit personal but the way some people talk about children really offends me. Some children have already experienced more in their wee lives than we ever will. Some children will have -

Hey @lewisgoodall.com here is our Lancet article on Long COVID. Happy to chat. www.thelancet.com/action/showP...

Yes, it does, and always has, not least because curriculum texts are often selected for their portrayal of misery and misunderstanding in the demographic being asked to read the curriculum.

Bob Eaglestone @bobeaglestone.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I gave evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee: very short account here schoolsweek.co.uk/secondary-en...

We could have had air filters...

As a former classroom teacher who still tutors kids through GCSE English, 100% agree.

Louie Stowell@louiestowell.bsky.social · 5d ago

Having recently read the select committee report the part about the GCSE curriculum really jumped out at me - not a new problem as I remember being put off English by it in the late 90s! I only did english A level after meeting an inspiring teacher at sixth form. GCSE English is the mind killer.

'She moved to Manchester in 2003 at the age of 18 to study politics and modern history at the University of Manchester. After graduating, she began her career in local government.' Hist/Pol graduate replaces English graduate as Mayor of Manchester. Not degrees in favour with governments. Sadly.

Labour's Bev Craig elected mayor of Greater Manchester, replacing Andy Burnham

The contest was triggered when now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham stood down from the role following his election as an MP last month.

bbc.co.uk