About Us
Focus Education is a family-run company, providing advice and educational support to primary schools and academies. We are committed to enabling schools and academies to be the best that they can be.
We’re proud of our work and our values; we use our backgrounds in education to build links with schools and academies; that’s why we currently work with over 3,500 primary schools and early years' organisations in England.
Our History
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Our Story
Focus Education was Established in 1993 by Clive & Linda Davies as Focus Inspection Services and, at the time, was predominantly an Inspection provider. In 2001, their daughter Claire joined the company and they expanded to provide CPD in the form of INSET and conferences and began selling their first publications written by Clive.
The company moved from their home office to an office in their local village and they became a publisher, publishing and retailing their ever-growing range of resources for schools.
As their consultancy team and business grew, so did the central team. In 2007, the business moved to new premises in a converted church on the outskirts of Saddleworth.
In 2008, Clive Davies received an OBE for his services to Education, and the business had built a strong reputation for quality, professionalism and value for money.
Setting up Focus-Trust
In 2012, the Focus-Trust was set up, a multi-academy trust with Focus Education as the sponsor. This currently has 13 Primary Academies, all based in the North of England. Clive, Linda and Claire are all actively involved with the Focus-Trust. Clive sits on the Board and is also a governor of one of the Trust’s Academies. Clive describes the Trust as his legacy to primary education.
Looking to the future
Fast-forward to 2024, and the education landscape has changed post-pandemic. Focus Education has streamlined and adapted to work with schools’ ever-decreasing budgets and the challenges they face daily. We now offer a full range of courses via live webinars and have a vast library of on-demand recorded courses. We still provide high-quality bespoke CPD training, but with the choice of face-to-face or via Zoom.
Our range of publications has continued to increase, but these are now available as e-books and downloads. Our Learning Challenge Curriculum, first created over ten years ago, has been adopted in thousands of schools throughout England and has received excellent feedback.
As we enter our 30th year, our aim for the future is simple… continue working hard to support schools nationally, increase the number of schools we work with while maintaining and improving the standard of service we give to schools and academies, and provide a personal, professional and worthwhile service.
Visions and Values
The visions and values of Focus Education define our company. Our vision is outlined below by the areas we consider key.
Quality Education Resources
Our educational resources are written by our expert education consultants to save time for busy school leaders and teachers. They are also simple and straightforward to use.
Practical Solutions
We work hard to keep things simple. We don’t believe in jargon or complexity for the sake of it - that’s why we take complex topics and present them in a user-friendly manner.
Integrity
We work to do the right thing – keeping children at the centre of all advice and decision-making.
Credible & High-Quality Support
All our consultants come from an educational background as teachers, headteachers, or Ofsted inspectors, and they use this background to speak from experience.
Diversity
We value diversity in all the schools we work with and ensure that our advice and practice reflect the diverse nature of the communities we serve.
The Best People
We employ the very best. Our expert education consultants are the best in their field, and their backgrounds as headteachers and Ofsted inspectors give them a unique perspective.
A True Partnership with Schools
We work with you. Your agenda is our agenda. Our consultants want to understand your school and your needs to help make the biggest difference for your pupils.
Environmental Policy
- The paper used in our books is FSC approved – this means all our paper is from responsible sources;
- We recycle our ink cartridges;
- We recycle paper, cardboard, plastic and bottles;
- We encourage cycling and walking to work and car sharing when possible;
- All the Focus Education reports are produced and reported electronically; this saves heaps of paper during the year;
- We use reusable glasses for our drinks.
If you have any suggestions, please get in touch. We are always looking for new ways to improve the office environment.
Let customers speak for us
from 31 reviewsExcellent schemes of work. My staff love using these
Treated myself to a copy of this book and was so pleased with it I've ordered another for an old-school friend. Mine came with complimentary parma violets - will hers? Very helpful lady on the phone who wasn't fazed even when I offered to pay by good old-fashioned cheque. Geoff and Margaret would have approved.
Excellent service and very quick delivery of e-book and paper copy. Clear and systematic guidance using OFSTED deep dive approach as a very effective monitoring system to upskill all leaders and support school improvement
All guides are so easy to use and up to date with latest developments. Training is always enlightening and plenty of useful and practical ideas which really have an impact.
We bought all the deep dive downloads and they have really focused my middle leaders. Experienced leaders have used to validate what they are doing and more recent leaders have used to really target the impact of their work. I would recommend these to anyone. So easy to use. Used Focus Education for many years and is always my go to company 1st when looking for documents.
Focus Education is always the go to place for excellent resources and courses for all our staff
Purchased the Progression in the National Curriculum (Focus Mini) which has been a fantastic product to use alongside my final year training as a primary school teacher. Compact and clear to read information makes the mini a perfect companion to planning lessons and assignment writing. Have a number of other products on my Christmas wish list. A great company I feel lucky to have found!
This is just one of many resources I have purchased from Focus and all have been excellent. I've also bought e books and the standard is just as high. I'm an education consultant and I use Focus materials to help me prepare for courses - the high quality means that I can confidently use them with teachers. At the moment I'm browsing resources which will help me deliver CPD in 2020 on Ofsted's deep dives and once again, Focus doesn't disappoint. I'll definitely be a regular customer in 2020. Just one small thing - more support for Religious Education would be great!
Purchased the whole set of Subject Leaders, under the new framework the emphasis on Subject Leaders is greater than ever. Staff have found these very valuable in enabling them to carry out their roles thoroughly. Include audit tools and key questions which really guide leaders how to review the quality of education on a subject specific level as opposed to a generic level. Like all Focus resources and courses - time saving, informative and up to date - great value for money too when you consider the staff hours saved!
Sticky knowledge helped us strip back our curriculum. Science deep dive supported me as science lead and a way forward with the new ofsted criteria
I recently took on the new role at my school: Quality of Education Leader. The function of the role is to oversee the curriculum subject leaders and review their roles. I bought one of the Subject leader books that was most relevant to my specialism and I found it extremely useful particularly with the audit section that allowed me to really get to know my subject.
Your publications are always my starting point when there is an area of teaching and learning or leadership I wish to develop with colleagues. You have a wide range of materials and I particularly like that many come in e-book form too.
An excellent resource for writing our SEF. Makes everything clear and easy to follow. Time saving and very thorough!
A really useful manual to support teachers and teaching assistants. Easily accessible and relevant.
Fabulous document, especially for a non-expert like myself. I now feel confident that I've considered all elements I should. Thank you!