I started working for Focus 25 years ago, okay perhaps I wasn’t officially working as I would have been about 15 years old and still at school, but I remember my parents setting up an inspection company and they wanted a logo designing and some ideas for names. My naïve... View Article
Focus News 2018 is coming to a close and it has been another busy year for Focus. We have released 9 publications, ran 50 courses with 793 delegates attending throughout the year and delivered 403 inset days in schools. We launched Inspection Coach with 2Eskimos which is an exciting website... View Article
Happy Christmas from Focus Education To say thank you for supporting us through 25 years we have an advent calendar with different daily freebies, offers and rewards. Terms and conditions: Offers are only available on the date shown. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers/discounts/vouchers. 01/12/18 Buy Focus... View Article
Black Friday 2018 30% off publication orders over £35 Terms and Conditions: Focus Minis, pupil books and 2Eskimo / Teacher Profile software not included. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer / voucher. Discounts are applied to the full price of a product. Quote BLK18 Call 01457 821... View Article
GDPR Here at Focus Education, we’ve been super busy ensuring everything we do at focus-education.co.uk complies with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when they come into force on Friday 25th May 2018. The changes to how we handle data to comply with the highest EU data protection standards... View Article
Focus News – Christmas Term 2017 … And 2017 is coming to a close… what a whirlwind of a year it’s been! Take a look at the highlights of the Autumn Term. Charity Fundraising It is important to us that we get involved in charity events and fundraising. This term... View Article
Embed a rich and engaging English and Maths Curriculum into your primary school... We were excited to hold our first ever VIP Event at Madeleine Lindley bookshop this month to introduce our latest product - Focus English, and give Focus Maths users a recap and refresh of Focus Maths. The... View Article
Are you using the Learning Challenge Curriculum? Win £250 for your school. Are you a school using Focus Education’s Learning Challenge Curriculum or considering using it? You could win £250. All you need to do is show us how you’re using it! How do I enter? We are inviting schools to submit a... View Article
This blog is an extract taken from Defining High Expectations in Your School by Tim Nelson. To find out more click here. As you may expect, many schools use the phrase ‘high expectations’ in their mission statement, prospectus, website and other similar material when describing outcomes for their... View Article
This is taken from our Focus Update Service. The Focus Update Service is intended to save you time and keep you up to speed. Each school leader update outlines the main headlines in clear no-nonsense language and tells you where you can find more information. Find out more about our... View Article
Free Science Curriculum Template based on the Learning Challenge Curriculum Our science curriculum sample plan will help primary school science teachers provide pupils with fun and engaging science lessons whilst still covering the science curriculum. The plan covers Earth and space whilst also integrating the learning of other subjects such... View Article
Inspections are incredibly daunting. This blog has been taken from Preparing for an Ofsted Inspection by Tim Nelson. It looks at the steps to take from the initial phone call. You can see sample pages or purchase the book here. For an announced inspection the school will be contacted... View Article
Wellbeing in schools Thank goodness you’re a people person he said as he strolled out the office. I sat in surprise and rolled the phrase around my head … A people person. It continued to float there for some time, I had never thought of myself as a people person,... View Article
School Consultancy in Guangzhou Guangzhou? Where is that? This was my first thought when I was invited to work with the Nord Anglia British School of Guangzhou on a school consultancy. Guangzhou is a large bustling city in the south of China; the third largest city, in fact. The climate... View Article
Clive Davies OBE has put together his 5 top tips when writing your Self Evaluation Summary. 1. Prove your progress! Always make sure that your judgement on teaching and learning can be substantiated by the progress pupils make. 2. Don’t sabotage your school! Be careful not to be too generous... View Article
What do we mean by a coaching culture and what does it matter in our primary schools anyway? How many times have you heard people say that you need a coaching culture in your school, and how many times have you thought, ‘that sounds interesting, but probably not for my... View Article
Rethinking the Curriculum, the Learning Challenge Curriculum How introducing pre-learning activities can spark life into stale lesson plans Anfield Road Primary School in Liverpool is a recently amalgamated school, combined in September 2014 from the infant and junior schools of the same name. Eighteen months ago, Anfield Road Primary saw... View Article
How external advice, a curriculum revamp, and becoming an academy helped one school dramatically improve its Ofsted rating from special measures to outstanding. A school from Sheffield has revealed how a total rework of its curriculum has enabled it to move from ‘Special Measures’ to receiving an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted rating... View Article
Hopwood Primary School is in Rochdale. The school was judged outstanding by Ofsted. How the school has used Focus Education Over the last few years our use of Focus Education has grown from attending courses and purchasing publications to online updates, Finger Tips and consultancy. This year we have used... View Article
Miriam Lord is a large primary school in Bradford. Nearly all pupils are EAL and the proportion of children claiming FSM is well above the national average, as is the percentage of pupils on the SEN register. How the school has used Focus Education As a school we have used... View Article
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School is in the town of Leigh in Wigan local authority. The school serves children from a range of backgrounds and has been judged by Ofsted to be outstanding. How the school has used Focus Education Since 2003 the school have worked with Focus Education by... View Article
Westwood is in Oldham. All pupils live in a ward which is in the bottom 1% in the country in terms of multiple deprivation. All pupils are EAL learners and approx half the school is eligible for FSM. 98% of pupils enter the school well below expectations. Ofsted judged the... View Article
St Alban’s CE Primary School is in Camden. Most pupils are from minority ethnic groups and are EAL. Twenty six languages are spoken in the school. How the school has used Focus Education We have used Focus Education to work with our senior leadership team in helping us review our... View Article
As part of Sheffield’s overall school improvement strategy the Good to Great programme was designed to lead school transformation and facilitate school – to – school partnership work leading to improvement for pupils. How the school has used Focus Education Focus Education has provided consultancy to develop the Good to Great... View Article
This FREE download contains information about book scrutiny in primary schools. It includes the '7 strands of excellence' framework to support teachers in carrying out effective book scrutiny in classrooms. It also contains a summary explanation of book scrutiny and why it is necessary.
