News, Views and Social
Handwriting in primary schools
Blog about handwriting? Would there be enough to blog about? I began to think. I remember my grandfather telling me how he had to learn exquisitely perfect copperplate handwriting on a slate. If that was not challenging enough, he was left-handed and his teacher tied his left hand behind his... View Article
Category: English
Maths in primary schools
Put the kettle on and let’s talk about maths. When I get home on a Friday night, members of my family (once they’ve eventually looked up from their respective screens of various dimensions and realised I’m back) will often ask, ‘Where have you been this week?’. And I will normally... View Article
Category: Maths
Teachers: How to Cope with Your First Day Back: The Checklist.
How to survive your first day back after a fantastic Christmas and New Year. We understand how hard it is to get to work on a cold January morning and start a new term of teaching. So here at Focus, we have compiled a check list of things we... View Article
Category: Teaching Guidance
Improving Feedback in Primary Schools
Improving feedback in primary schools The quality of feedback in primary schools is an ongoing issue for teachers and leaders. Time and again, it is quoted as an improvement point in inspection reports. Much educational research identifies that feedback is a hugely powerful factor in improving learning and progress.... View Article
Category: School Leadership Teaching Guidance
Is Failure the New Success?
Is Failure the new Success? Schools are great at celebrating success, but there is a sea change in academic thought that means across the sector a more positive attitude is developing towards failure. In the world of business there is a common refrain; that every successful business person has at... View Article
Category: School Leadership Teaching Guidance
EAL Learners and the New Curriculum
EAL Learners in primary schools The group of children that we “name” EAL learners, is not a homogeneous group. These children come from many different ethnicities, different cultural experiences, different life experiences (some of them challenging and traumatic), and different educational experiences and expectations. What they all have in common... View Article
Category: Curriculum English
Developing Middle Leaders
Developing Middle Leaders in primary schools I’ve been working in and around Sunderland recently and a lot of the work has been around middle leadership in primary schools, speaking at conferences and also working with a couple of my ‘package’ schools. We call them package schools because they have bought... View Article
Category: Middle Leadership
Rethinking the Curriculum
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
Category: Case Studies Curriculum
focuseducation1
📍 Oldham, Manchester
🏢 Supporting Schools 30 Years
📚 Publications & Resources
💻 Training & High-Quality CPD for Primary Schools
🗓 Inset & Consultancy