Focus Education's popular minis, Progression in the National Curriculum and Ofsted Evaluation schedule more often than not, are sold in multiple quantities in a customer order. With heads, deputy headteachers, inspections and governors and teachers using both publications at the same time, we've come up with a way in which... View Article
To receive more education updates, we offer a Focus Update Service that delivers the latest announcements straight to your inbox. Our updates are written by our consultants who are continuously updated with the latest curriculum changes, education announcements, and everything you need to know. We currently offer a 3-month trial... View Article
“Stronger connections can reduce the risk of suicide” – Movember Charity During the month of November, we see men all over the country growing mustaches and beards to raise money and awareness for men’s mental and physical health. This month, our Productionist, Mick will be growing a beard... View Article
We are excited to announce that our Learning Challenge Curriculum website has recently been updated and upgraded. The Learning Challenge Curriculum has been created with a strong sense of enquiry at its heart. The question-led units encourage pupils to research and present information taking full account of their ability to... View Article
Focus Staff will return to the office on 29th June. The office will be open 8:30 to 5:00pm Monday to Friday. Following the government announcement to close schools from Friday 20th March, we made the decision to postpone all scheduled events for the rest of the spring term and the... View Article
2019 has been an incredibly busy year and one of the busiest weeks we had was during Inspiring Leadership in June. This year saw our 5th year exhibiting and we had a fantastic time. We met so many wonderful inspiring teachers. Thank you to everyone who attended our stand and... View Article
Focus Video Hub- Online Video Training. In response to school requests and the current budget crisis in schools, Focus took the decision earlier this year to offer filmed versions of a selection of our courses. Teachers and heads have repeatedly described how supply teacher costs and reducing budges is impacting... View Article
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
Tim Nelson & his love for the Geography Curriculum... Geography is my subject, though if I’ve ever visited your school, you will probably be surprised to hear that having guided around like a forgetful elderly relative and repeatedly reminded me where the staffroom is and where the main entrance is... View Article
Put the Professional in to your CPD with Focus Mini Clips. Let us help you to focus your teacher training sessions or twilights. The consultants at Focus Education have prepared a range of Mini Clips - these are short video inputs to introduce and give an overview of your meeting/twilight... View Article
This blog has been written by Focus Education’s Associate Consultant, Tim Nelson. In my last blog, I mentioned the inspection focus on concepts as well as knowledge. This was especially relevant in a recent remote inspection where the HMI was asking the school about their history national curriculum. Now,... View Article
This blog has been written by Focus Education’s Associate Consultant, Tim Nelson. Right, your starter for ten is where is that quote from? It’s originally from the bible, so well done if you knew that. Have a house point. The reason I chose that as a focus for this... View Article
This blog has been written by Focus Education's Associate Consultant, Tim Nelson. When the papers and news channels announced schools are re-opening in March it would have been nice if they had acknowledged they never actually closed. We all know they have been open for more and more vulnerable children... View Article
Many schools have developed knowledge organisers, knowledge mats, or something similar, even before the first lockdown. These carefully identified the key vocabulary for each unit of work, listing the ten or twelve ‘Roman’ or ‘Brazilian’ words and phrases, alongside the key learning. These have proved to be very useful. They... View Article
The skills for ‘Character Education’ are suitably broken up into 6 areas Self Awareness Team Workers Being Resilient Commitment Problem Solver Showing Empathy These need to be taught and nurtured across all areas and ages. You may wish to view these as the ‘Learn to Live’ skills. We recognise that... View Article
Key elements of the subject leader role Key purpose Ensure that pupils make progress through each year group, acquiring and applying key knowledge, so that they at least meet the agreed age expectations in a subject. This is achieved by: securing high quality teaching; ensuring that planning meets the requirements... 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. Click the button at the top right of the page to download
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