From the moment we stepped into teaching, we all notice that we do something different to the person in the classroom next door. Good or Bad, these differences are essential to a student’s development and relationships. How you create your classroom and the learning experience is individual to each teacher and each student. Here are some tops tips from lessons I have be lucky to see from my Teaching and Learning background and some of my own practices that I am glad make me different.

There is a lot to share from last week. Thank you to Mrs Hathaway for organising the fantastic Community Day on Saturday. It was good to see so many of you there. The Year 10 exams have started really well – well done to all Year 10 students for the positive approach you have taken in these tests; it will help you to prepare for next summer’s GCSEs. I also think that our College looks much tidier – you are clearly making an effort to keep the school tidy. We must all keep this up – this is a non-negotiable and we must all do it. 

It was good to see everyone on assemblies last week and I would like to thank you for a very positive first week back. The theme of our tutor times this week is our value of happiness and it was good to see students happy to be back in College last week. I visited several lessons last week and was impressed with the work, conduct and progress you are making. Thank you and well done – a good start to the term.

Twitter had never been by my preferred social media outlet of choice, but about 18 months ago I discovered Twitter as a teacher and it has been a revelation!

Welcome back to the summer term. I hope you all had a very good Easter break. I’d like to start by saying well done to our Year 11 students who attended revision sessions over the holidays – this will definitely help with the real exams. A particular thank you to the staff who came in to deliver the sessions, too. I would also like to welcome back Miss Jessop. Miss Jessop returns to us having been interim Principal for the last two terms at another United Learning Academy. It is great to have her back with us. 

Colin Harris reviews his most useful pedagogy book - Outstanding teaching: Engaging Learners

Outstanding teaching: Engaging Learners is a book I have used throughout my teaching from being a History NQT through to Subject Leader. This book was gifted to myself and my fellow NQTs within our first weeks as teachers with the slightly tongue in cheek challenge to live up to its title.

The Spring term will very soon be over. It is the shortest term of the year, but we have put a lot in to it…. Concerts, sports fixtures, charity events, parents evenings, quiz night, mud run, Gilbert Hannam Awards and lots of educational trips and visits. This is to name but a few of the things we have done and you have participated in. Thank you for your continued hard work and effort in lessons too. The vast majority of you work hard all the time, most of you work hard most of the time. I am a big believer that we can all put more effort in to our work and strive to always do better. 

‘Doing the right thing’ and helping and supporting others is incredibly important. People will remember you in the future if you help them and are respectful and considerate towards them. This week is Sports Relief and we will be holding a variety of activities in College to support this charity. Helping to raise money for others who are less fortunate than we are is important and as a school this is something we must all do. The money you raise for Sport Relief will help to treat children who malaria, support mental health charities in the UK and also create safe spaces for people to be safe and active. All of these things are vitally important. 

Following our Friday Teaching & Learning Session on exploring how we use questioning in our classrooms, two things became clear:

1. Questioning is a teacher's bread and butter and we all use a wide range of questioning types and strategies to develop understanding and enhance learning.

2. A perennial problem is how to engage ALL students in the question and response process.