What is the difference between performance and learning? Check out this Substack and let me know your thoughts: learningchronicles.substack.com/p/performanc...
Doug O’Brien
@dougobrien.bsky.social
🧭 Director of Insights and Strategy 🏫 CELT School Improvement Team 👨🏫 Deputy Headteacher at Penrice Academy 🔬 Former Head of Science 📚 Curriculum, Assessment and QofE https://linktr.ee/Doug.OBrien
This means a lot. We set our IT team a challenge to bring our response time to tickets down to below fifteen minutes by the end of the year. They have consistently beaten that target. Under 6 minutes today. Very proud of their work. Service improvement is school improvement.
Great day at #rED25 - sessions from @beckyfrancis.bsky.social, @daisychristo.bsky.social, @chrisfountain.bsky.social and @dougobrien.bsky.social. It is always a delight seeing educators sharing their knowledge (on a Saturday no less) - brings such energy to the start of term.
Great start to the ResearchED National conference from Tom Bennett. A reminder that we should always strive to be evidence informed.
Special moments from our ECT and ITT graduation - celebrating not just the end of a training journey, but the beginning of a lifelong impact on the lives of learners across Cornwall #ExceptionalEducationalExperience
Inspiring the South West conference @inspiringsw.bsky.social being kicked off by Hayley Bissenden introducing the incredible Chris Lubbe @chrislubbe.bsky.social Inspiration on a rainy Saturday @celtacademies.bsky.social bringing great speakers to the heart of the South West
Congratulations to Cohort #1 of our Deputy Headteacher Development Programme. A fantastic year of collaboration, six inspiring school visits and clear actions to improve education for young people. Awesome work! @celtacademies.bsky.social @westcountryst.bsky.social @blackdownep.bsky.social
Our amazing Head of Maths @ljohns6.bsky.social presented at Maths Conference today. ⬇️⬇️⬇️ @celtacademies.bsky.social
Just delivered my first maths workshop at #MathsConf38 and I’m buzzing! Being 10% braver is HARD but so worth it.💪 Thank you to everyone who came along. Keep an eye out for resources and join the challenge! @nathanday.bsky.social has set the bar high! 🔥 #InterweavingMaths #MathsForFun #LoveMaths
What an awesome INSET day! Over 800 staff from our 16 schools came together to hear about our vision for @CeltAcademies.bsky.social and our Learning Chronicles launch. A real moment in our Trust story. Awesome team effort!
Very excited to be sharing some of the great work from @celtacademies.bsky.social at the ResearchED National conference in September. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/researched...
researchED National Conference 2025 #rED25
Eventbrite - researchED presents researchED National Conference 2025 #rED25 - Saturday, 6 September 2025 at Parliament Hill School, London, England. Find event and ticket information.
eventbrite.co.uk
Super Sunday Booster Done! Awesome work from Year 11 this evening at their online Booster for Biology Paper 2! The eye, blood glucose, evolution, genetic inheritance, peat bogs and loads more. What a fun evening!
Fantastic day speaking and learning at ResearchED Bournemouth. Great organisation and such a warm welcome, a pleasure. Proud to represent @celtacademies.bsky.social talking about our Learning Chronicles and solution focused leadership. #rEDBmth
Check out my post about today's half term booster! Follow me for more updates! #LoveTeaching
#secondarymaths #boostersession #examprep #confidencecounts… | Liza Johns
🧠✏️ “Parallel lines never meet… but in today’s maths booster session, everything aligned perfectly!” Today I delivered a half term booster session to help students prepare for their forthcoming exams...
linkedin.com
Great start to the weekend @inspiringsw.bsky.social AI in education conference. Perfectly pitched introduction by @moremorrow.bsky.social
What an awesome day! Grappling with Learning and Teaching framework ideas. The future of learning in @celtacademies.bsky.social is very exciting. We are privileged to have such open and humble leaders.
One of my favourite activities of the year…timetable blocking. A rainy day so 100% blocked, now to optimise and schedule. My gamification of the process definitely helps. Progress bars and split class scores.
This is exciting! Join us for an inspiring day at the AI in Education conference, designed for educators, leaders, and innovators from across Cornwall and the South West to come together and explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in the classroom 🤩
Improving attendance is one of top priorities @celtacademies.bsky.social Sign up to the We’re in Beta Pastoral Champions week to hear all about our seven key strategies to remove barriers. Link to sign up: www.weareinbeta.community/share/go9Ico... A sneak peak! ⬇️ Strategy 1 of 7 - Routines
Explaining the Curriculum and Assessment Review Interim Report - from my visit to Starbank School, Birmingham
Fantastic to see Mount Charles School in the news! Well done everyone 👏👏👏 buff.ly/IpO62l3
Primary school in St Austell celebrates glowing Ofsted report
Academy rated as providing a good quality of education and as outstanding in other areas
voicenewspapers.co.uk
Have you signed up to the We’re in Beta Pastoral Champions week? We’ve put together a session from Penrice Academy @celtacademies.bsky.social to share our approaches to ‘Closing the Attendance Gap’. The video is edited! 🎥 Sign up here: www.weareinbeta.community/share/go9Ico...
Absolutely delighted to be taking on a new challenge in a trust whose direction I couldn't be more excited about. It's important to acknowledge that I've had setbacks along the way but they just make the journey more valuable and the lessons learned more long-lasting #jobofmydreams
Today we launched Edition 1 of CELT Connected - a leadership bulletin with thinking, research and news for all our senior leaders. @celtacademies.bsky.social Check it out here: www.canva.com/design/DAGhz...
ECTs on Tour: This time, it’s all about Primary! After an incredible response from our Secondary ECTs, it was fantastic to see so many curious educators eager to explore the primary curriculum and classroom. A great opportunity to bridge the phases and deepen our understanding of our schools.
A great day with colleagues from CELT, West Country, and Ted Wragg. The Bridges by Tom Percival showed how books connect us, spark imagination, and give every child a voice. Just as Mia’s world changes through reading, we explored ways to ensure students feel seen, heard, and empowered.
Why might we not see impact in schools when leaders work tirelessly to improve them? Are they in a Doom Loop? Spot poor practice, leap to conclusions, launch a new initiative without build up and see poor results - then repeat. Leaders must build momentum towards clear goals.
Do we do enough for students starting secondary school, who had less than 90% attendance in Year 6? Only 18% of them achieve Grade 5 in English and Maths compared to 43%. Embedded attitudes towards engagement, knowledge gaps, underlying barriers… a whole host of factors.