Mr Read has written a book about teaching.  Here’s all the details provided by Mr Read himself: “Where to find a book about teaching by a teacher? All I could find were grim behavioural manuals that all started with ‘Getting The Buggers To…’ or alternatively the comfort read, those nostalgia fests about a village school [...]

To round off the National Year of Reading an online campaign has been created to promote reading amongst young people. Via a YouTube channel, viewers are invited to read up on a topic and post on the channel’s wall to help Garron (the protagonist) pull off some outlandish dares. Please see the set-up to the [...]

With Halloween coming up soon use CBBC’s guide to for activities and information on why we celebrate (unless you are in a church school!) the day.  Why we use pumpkins and not turnips, why do people wear costumes, and how can we trick or treat safely.

As teachers become ever more targeted on performance, the tendency towards “teaching to test” is growing. Specifically, grooming children to pass exams is resulting in a narrowed education and the fun of learning exploration is in decline.  We need more educational games to induce interest, enjoyment and increase the band width in learning; after all, [...]

An exam board is to review its marking guidance after one of its top examiners gave marks for a script which contained only a two-word sexual expletive. The Times reported that Assessment and Qualifications Alliance chief examiner Peter Buckroyd gave a pupil two marks out of 27 for an English GCSE paper. He is quoted [...]

I’ve found the reason behind why NORAD track Santa each year. According to Google “it was more than half a century ago, on Christmas Eve in 1955, that a Sears Roebuck & Co. store in Colorado Springs advertised a special hotline number for kids to call Santa. What the company didn’t know at the time [...]

Sunny days! The very first episodes of “Sesame Street” are available now but just don’t bring the children. According to a warning on Volumes 1 and 2, “Sesame Street: Old School” is adults-only: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.” The extracts below [...]

There’s a fun article by Cassandra Jardine in the Telegraph this week about the first days back at school. Here’s a few quotes from the article that I think ring true with primary teachers: “..while some are busy making sure they have the latest fashion footwear for the occasion, others are clearly dreading the return [...]