Richard Southward
@gwhitebread.bsky.social
North East Secondary Deputy Head, T and L, CPD lead, Science teacher, music and Vinyl enthusiast
Reposted by Richard Southward
An illuminating report on #oracy by @literacy-trust.bsky.social …
Exclusive: Oracy opportunities ‘decline sharply’ in early secondary, at the same time as students’ confidence with related skills is reducing, finds National Literacy Trust report
Oracy opportunities and confidence decline in KS3, report finds
National Literacy Trust report also finds that expressing feelings becomes more difficult in the early part of secondary school
www.tes.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:37 AM
An illuminating report on #oracy by @literacy-trust.bsky.social …
I’ve recently come across ‘Focus Five’ and I’m not sure what I feel about it. Assuming you have a fixed amount of time would the ‘non-focus’ students therefore get less attention? I could be wrong but it seems a bit inflexible, should your focus not shift every lesson (or even every question).
December 3, 2025 at 9:55 PM
I’ve recently come across ‘Focus Five’ and I’m not sure what I feel about it. Assuming you have a fixed amount of time would the ‘non-focus’ students therefore get less attention? I could be wrong but it seems a bit inflexible, should your focus not shift every lesson (or even every question).
Reposted by Richard Southward
Cognitive Load Theory and Maths
Zain Mahmood considers the subject through the lens of working memory.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Zain Mahmood considers the subject through the lens of working memory.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Cognitive Load Theory and Maths
Applying principles of Cognitive Load Theory to mathematics
researchschool.org.uk
December 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Cognitive Load Theory and Maths
Zain Mahmood considers the subject through the lens of working memory.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Zain Mahmood considers the subject through the lens of working memory.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Our latest podcast (@didau.bsky.social and me) is here! It’s about belonging and not belonging and how far will schools go to satisfy Ofsted? www.youtube.com/live/Df5OPOy...
Belonging in Schools: How Do We Do It?
YouTube video by It’s Your Time You’re Wasting!
www.youtube.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Our latest podcast (@didau.bsky.social and me) is here! It’s about belonging and not belonging and how far will schools go to satisfy Ofsted? www.youtube.com/live/Df5OPOy...
Reposted by Richard Southward
A free 21-page SecEd guide to #teaching #oracy skills with lots of practical ideas for #schools: Defining oracy – Disciplinary oracy – Teaching vocabulary – Assessing oracy – Oracy in year 7 – A culture of oracy – Oracy & disadvantage – Case studies & more:
A SecEd best practice guide to teaching oracy in schools - SecEd
This free guide offers ideas, advice and case studies for teaching oracy skills in the secondary school classroom
buff.ly
November 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Richard Southward
New Blog Post 📝
Etymology in science usually stops at just photosynthesis, but I use it almost every single lesson.
Here are a few stories of some of my lessons and the impact teaching etymology has made on pupil understanding and literacy.
inquestion.co.uk/2025/11/28/e...
Etymology in science usually stops at just photosynthesis, but I use it almost every single lesson.
Here are a few stories of some of my lessons and the impact teaching etymology has made on pupil understanding and literacy.
inquestion.co.uk/2025/11/28/e...
Chlorine is Green, Zoos Have Life and Kings are Killed: Using Etymology in Science
It started with a happy accident. I had finished a lesson with my Year 8s and, surprisingly, we had powered through the material with 15 minutes to spare. My plan for the next lesson was to introdu…
inquestion.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 7:00 AM
New Blog Post 📝
Etymology in science usually stops at just photosynthesis, but I use it almost every single lesson.
Here are a few stories of some of my lessons and the impact teaching etymology has made on pupil understanding and literacy.
inquestion.co.uk/2025/11/28/e...
Etymology in science usually stops at just photosynthesis, but I use it almost every single lesson.
Here are a few stories of some of my lessons and the impact teaching etymology has made on pupil understanding and literacy.
inquestion.co.uk/2025/11/28/e...
Reposted by Richard Southward
NEW POST
On questioning, respect, and hearing the voice of every child.
Link in reply, please share if you can! 🙏🙏
open.substack.com/pub/carousel...
On questioning, respect, and hearing the voice of every child.
Link in reply, please share if you can! 🙏🙏
open.substack.com/pub/carousel...
Every student, every lesson
When we allow the loudest voices to dominate classroom conversation, we neglect to show respect and dignity to all our students, forgetting that every voice needs to be heard.
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:47 PM
NEW POST
On questioning, respect, and hearing the voice of every child.
Link in reply, please share if you can! 🙏🙏
open.substack.com/pub/carousel...
On questioning, respect, and hearing the voice of every child.
Link in reply, please share if you can! 🙏🙏
open.substack.com/pub/carousel...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Without a clear curriculum, knowledge is forgotten, habits don’t shift and progress stalls – and this is just as true for teachers’ learning as it is for pupils’, writes Mark Enser
How to design a CPD curriculum
Without a clear curriculum, knowledge is forgotten, habits don't shift and progress stalls – and this is just as true for teachers' learning as it is for pupils', writes Mark Enser
www.tes.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Without a clear curriculum, knowledge is forgotten, habits don’t shift and progress stalls – and this is just as true for teachers’ learning as it is for pupils’, writes Mark Enser
Reposted by Richard Southward
The BBC One Show does a great job with the National Teaching Awards. It always brings a tear to my eye to hear people on television presenting a positive image of the profession because we are so used to seeing quite the opposite in TV dramas.
November 28, 2025 at 7:37 PM
The BBC One Show does a great job with the National Teaching Awards. It always brings a tear to my eye to hear people on television presenting a positive image of the profession because we are so used to seeing quite the opposite in TV dramas.
Reposted by Richard Southward
"Leaders, If belonging is an initiative in your school, make sure the strategies you model in professional development build belonging socially & academically. It’s not either/or — both matter." @triciatailored.bsky.social: www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/seen-valued-...
Seen, Valued… and Able: Designing Classrooms for Social and Academic Belonging | Belonging Effect
Belonging isn’t separate from academic teaching. Strategies that build knowledge - when done correctly -also build belonging.
www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 4:58 PM
"Leaders, If belonging is an initiative in your school, make sure the strategies you model in professional development build belonging socially & academically. It’s not either/or — both matter." @triciatailored.bsky.social: www.thebelongingeffect.co.uk/seen-valued-...
Reposted by Richard Southward
As someone with an interest in philosophy *and* school improvement, it felt like this blog was written for me! There’s lots to think about about even if philosophy is not your bag. open.substack.com/pub/carousel...
Autonomy, authority and anarchy: creating a better school culture
Most schools live with a quiet tension between what’s written in policy and what actually happens in lessons. Getting to grips with this tension is at the heart of creating an improved school culture.
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:54 AM
As someone with an interest in philosophy *and* school improvement, it felt like this blog was written for me! There’s lots to think about about even if philosophy is not your bag. open.substack.com/pub/carousel...
Reposted by Richard Southward
🧰 If you’re looking for practical tools to make planning, collaboration and improvement easier, I’ve designed a set of free tools you can use anytime. Simple, clear, and built for busy leaders.
Start exploring 👉 buff.ly/NqzjSQe
#EducationalLeaders #SchoolImprovement
Start exploring 👉 buff.ly/NqzjSQe
#EducationalLeaders #SchoolImprovement
November 25, 2025 at 12:30 AM
🧰 If you’re looking for practical tools to make planning, collaboration and improvement easier, I’ve designed a set of free tools you can use anytime. Simple, clear, and built for busy leaders.
Start exploring 👉 buff.ly/NqzjSQe
#EducationalLeaders #SchoolImprovement
Start exploring 👉 buff.ly/NqzjSQe
#EducationalLeaders #SchoolImprovement
Reposted by Richard Southward
Autonomy sounds like liberation, but the Greeks had a clearer view: freedom wasn’t being unwatched it was upholding the law for your self. Now, in classrooms and staffrooms alike, that’s the promise and the price.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
The promise and the price of autonomy
Why guidance, not premature independence, is the real foundation of freedom
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Autonomy sounds like liberation, but the Greeks had a clearer view: freedom wasn’t being unwatched it was upholding the law for your self. Now, in classrooms and staffrooms alike, that’s the promise and the price.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Reposted by Richard Southward
NEW: How to Develop Self-talk in the Classroom
Creating a culture of teacher and pupil self-talk to develop metacognition and self-regulation.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Creating a culture of teacher and pupil self-talk to develop metacognition and self-regulation.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
How to Develop Self-talk in the Classroom
How self-talk can develop metacognition and self-regulation
researchschool.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 5:50 PM
NEW: How to Develop Self-talk in the Classroom
Creating a culture of teacher and pupil self-talk to develop metacognition and self-regulation.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Creating a culture of teacher and pupil self-talk to develop metacognition and self-regulation.
researchschool.org.uk/bradford/new...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Thank you to @adamboxereducation.bsky.social
and @laurastam for the final kick of inspiration yesterday morning to get this blog about mini-whiteboards finally out of my head and into the world.
Mini-Whiteboards: A Long-Overdue Rant (and Love Letter)
open.substack.com/pub/theeduca...
and @laurastam for the final kick of inspiration yesterday morning to get this blog about mini-whiteboards finally out of my head and into the world.
Mini-Whiteboards: A Long-Overdue Rant (and Love Letter)
open.substack.com/pub/theeduca...
Mini-Whiteboards: A Long-Overdue Rant (and Love Letter)
A Slice of Primary Leadership
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Thank you to @adamboxereducation.bsky.social
and @laurastam for the final kick of inspiration yesterday morning to get this blog about mini-whiteboards finally out of my head and into the world.
Mini-Whiteboards: A Long-Overdue Rant (and Love Letter)
open.substack.com/pub/theeduca...
and @laurastam for the final kick of inspiration yesterday morning to get this blog about mini-whiteboards finally out of my head and into the world.
Mini-Whiteboards: A Long-Overdue Rant (and Love Letter)
open.substack.com/pub/theeduca...
Reposted by Richard Southward
🎓 For more on the theory, check out this review of generative learning activities:
link.springer.com/article/10....
(and for a wonderfully practical exploration, see the Enser’s book on the topic)
link.springer.com/article/10....
(and for a wonderfully practical exploration, see the Enser’s book on the topic)
Making Sense of Generative Learning
Educational Psychology Review - How do learners make sense of what they are learning? In this article, I present a new framework of sense-making based on research investigating the benefits and...
link.springer.com
November 16, 2025 at 7:00 PM
🎓 For more on the theory, check out this review of generative learning activities:
link.springer.com/article/10....
(and for a wonderfully practical exploration, see the Enser’s book on the topic)
link.springer.com/article/10....
(and for a wonderfully practical exploration, see the Enser’s book on the topic)
Reposted by Richard Southward
Why a generation of kids are learning to read everything except books. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/in-defence...
November 15, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Why a generation of kids are learning to read everything except books. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/in-defence...
Reposted by Richard Southward
The @theeef.bsky.social has released updated guidance on Metacognition & self-regulated learning - one of its most widely used evidence resources.
Explore the update here: educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-ev...
Explore the update here: educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-ev...
Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning
Apply metacognitive strategies in the classroom.
educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:48 AM
The @theeef.bsky.social has released updated guidance on Metacognition & self-regulated learning - one of its most widely used evidence resources.
Explore the update here: educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-ev...
Explore the update here: educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-ev...
Reposted by Richard Southward
A big contributor to SEND rates is how schools identify additional needs - something the EPI uncovered in a landmark 2021 study.
I also dug into it in 2023, because the raw EHCP and SEN figures can be misleading without context schoolsweek.co.uk/send-special...
epi.org.uk/publications...
I also dug into it in 2023, because the raw EHCP and SEN figures can be misleading without context schoolsweek.co.uk/send-special...
epi.org.uk/publications...
Identifying pupils with special educational needs and disabilities - Education Policy Institute
A new study from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), funded by the Nuffield Foundation, highlights significant inconsistencies in how children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) ...
epi.org.uk
November 13, 2025 at 8:55 AM
A big contributor to SEND rates is how schools identify additional needs - something the EPI uncovered in a landmark 2021 study.
I also dug into it in 2023, because the raw EHCP and SEN figures can be misleading without context schoolsweek.co.uk/send-special...
epi.org.uk/publications...
I also dug into it in 2023, because the raw EHCP and SEN figures can be misleading without context schoolsweek.co.uk/send-special...
epi.org.uk/publications...
Reposted by Richard Southward
NEW: Good schools make good trachers
If teachers don’t always improve with experience, the problem isn’t them. It’s the environment. Schools that get better do so because they make feedback clearer, practice more deliberate, and culture more trustworthy.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
If teachers don’t always improve with experience, the problem isn’t them. It’s the environment. Schools that get better do so because they make feedback clearer, practice more deliberate, and culture more trustworthy.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Good schools make good teachers
What kind domains, wicked traps and school culture mean for improvement
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:24 AM
NEW: Good schools make good trachers
If teachers don’t always improve with experience, the problem isn’t them. It’s the environment. Schools that get better do so because they make feedback clearer, practice more deliberate, and culture more trustworthy.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
If teachers don’t always improve with experience, the problem isn’t them. It’s the environment. Schools that get better do so because they make feedback clearer, practice more deliberate, and culture more trustworthy.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Reposted by Richard Southward
With the new Ofsted toolkit removing deep dives, subject leaders need a new way to consider quality assurance.
I’ve shared a practical Subject Leader Self-Audit Tool to help evidence strengths and plan next steps within the 2025 framework.
Download it here:
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
I’ve shared a practical Subject Leader Self-Audit Tool to help evidence strengths and plan next steps within the 2025 framework.
Download it here:
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
Subject Leader Self-Audit Tool
With the new Ofsted inspection toolkit removing subject deep dives, it’s now harder for leaders to demonstrate the quality of education through traditional triangulation.
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:03 AM
With the new Ofsted toolkit removing deep dives, subject leaders need a new way to consider quality assurance.
I’ve shared a practical Subject Leader Self-Audit Tool to help evidence strengths and plan next steps within the 2025 framework.
Download it here:
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
I’ve shared a practical Subject Leader Self-Audit Tool to help evidence strengths and plan next steps within the 2025 framework.
Download it here:
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...
Reposted by Richard Southward
“No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.” – Dr. James Comer
An incredibly common quote in education...but it is usually used incorrectly. Read below to find out what sorts of relationships Dr. Comer was actually taking about.
theeffortfuleducator.com/2018/05/09/r...
An incredibly common quote in education...but it is usually used incorrectly. Read below to find out what sorts of relationships Dr. Comer was actually taking about.
theeffortfuleducator.com/2018/05/09/r...
Relationships and Learning: Clarification on a Popular Quote - The Effortful Educator
How important are relationships on learning? Depends on what you mean by relationship.
theeffortfuleducator.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:51 AM
“No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.” – Dr. James Comer
An incredibly common quote in education...but it is usually used incorrectly. Read below to find out what sorts of relationships Dr. Comer was actually taking about.
theeffortfuleducator.com/2018/05/09/r...
An incredibly common quote in education...but it is usually used incorrectly. Read below to find out what sorts of relationships Dr. Comer was actually taking about.
theeffortfuleducator.com/2018/05/09/r...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Are we approaching a Turing Test for Teaching? A deep dive into the evidence on AI tutoring. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-algori...
November 8, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Are we approaching a Turing Test for Teaching? A deep dive into the evidence on AI tutoring. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/the-algori...
Reposted by Richard Southward
Update: The DfE has clarified its new progress 8 measure would first apply to GCSEs sat in 2029, meaning any schools that run three-year GCSE courses will need to take it into account during subject choices for their current year 8s
schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-ignores-...
schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-ignores-...
DfE ignores Francis review and proposes progress 8 reform
Government pledges changes to subject make-up of league table measure - despite review calling for no changes
schoolsweek.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Update: The DfE has clarified its new progress 8 measure would first apply to GCSEs sat in 2029, meaning any schools that run three-year GCSE courses will need to take it into account during subject choices for their current year 8s
schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-ignores-...
schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-ignores-...
Reposted by Richard Southward
NEW REPORT: Modelling and reforming school choice
By Ellen Greaves, @estellecantillon.bsky.social, @mariagraziacavallo.bsky.social and me.
Blog economics.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2025/11/06/a...
Policy briefing
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
#EconSky #EduSky
1/9
By Ellen Greaves, @estellecantillon.bsky.social, @mariagraziacavallo.bsky.social and me.
Blog economics.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2025/11/06/a...
Policy briefing
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
#EconSky #EduSky
1/9
Access to highly effective schools: The case for reform – Welcome to the Economics blog
How do we address the gap in attainment between the most advantaged and disadvantaged students in the UK? Pioneering research, led by the University of Bristol, reveals the reforms most likely to equa...
economics.blogs.bristol.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 8:01 AM
NEW REPORT: Modelling and reforming school choice
By Ellen Greaves, @estellecantillon.bsky.social, @mariagraziacavallo.bsky.social and me.
Blog economics.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2025/11/06/a...
Policy briefing
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
#EconSky #EduSky
1/9
By Ellen Greaves, @estellecantillon.bsky.social, @mariagraziacavallo.bsky.social and me.
Blog economics.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2025/11/06/a...
Policy briefing
www.bristol.ac.uk/media-librar...
#EconSky #EduSky
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