You Might Be a Reindeer: Dressing Up EYFS and PMLD Sensory Story A quick and simple dressing-up sensory story. You Might Be a Reindeer! This is really easy to create for an EYFS, SLD or PMLD classroom activity for the winter term. You may also like our You Might Be Santa and You Might Be…
How School Leaders Can Implement Lessons from Thinking, Fast and Slow By Daniel Kahneman In his bestselling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman offers a framework for understanding how our mind works and how we can use it more effectively. As a school leader, you are constantly faced with decisions that affect…
Food Chaining To Help Children Try New Foods After living and working with children who favour beige foods I have only just stumbled across the idea of food chaining. If you are a parent of an autistic child, you may have experienced similar challenges with feeding your child. Some autistic children have a restricted diet,…
Applying The Infinite Game To School Leadership There are many books on leadership some of them hold valuable lessons for school leaders. I find the work of Simon Sinek to be really accessible and usable. I used his book Start With Why when I developed the School of Joy Approach. In his fifth book, The…
How to Hire the Best Teachers Possible for SEND Students It’s high time for the UK to revitalise SEND education. In 2023, England’s local government ombudsman received over 60% more complaints over special needs education compared to the previous year, many of which highlighted the huge deficits of councils’ SEND budgets amid lengthy delays in issuing Education,…
School Policies and Systemic Change Systems change slowly, and embedded beliefs, policy and values are slower still to change. No one working in the education system will deny that post-pandemic the system is failing. Failing systems need leaders who are innovative, brave, confident and experienced leaders to drive change within their organisations and influence change…
Tips for Designing Activities To Reduce Processing Demand As an experienced special needs teacher in the United Kingdom, I have learned that it is crucial to design activities that meet the specific processing requirements of my students. There have been discussions about autistic energy and Spoon Theory. This seems to relate to the capacity of…
How Many Senses Do We Have and How Do They Enhance Learning? As teachers, we know that our students learn best when they are engaged and motivated. Regular visitors to this site will know my favourite way to achieve this is to create a multisensory learning environment. Learning for children with SEN can be enhanced…
What is Horizon Scanning & How can it help Identify Future Education Trends? What if something disruptive happens and you don’t notice? A fundamental shift that affects the education system and as a school leader you are not ready to respond to it. This is where a process known as Horizon Scanning comes in. We…
Leadership Quotes For School Leaders. Continuing our series on examining how we can apply famous leadership quotes to school leadership our next quote is “The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.” by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Imagine you are a teacher in a school where the headteacher is dishonest, inconsistent, and unethical. How would you feel?…
Applying “The Key To Successful Leadership” Quote to Schools The quote “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” is attributed to Kenneth H. Blanchard, an American author and management expert who has written many books on leadership, teamwork, and organisational development. He is best known for co-authoring The One Minute Manager series…
Introduction to Cognitive Science and SEN Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of how the mind works, drawing on insights from psychology, neuroscience, education, and other fields. It investigates the mental processes and structures that underlie human cognition, such as memory, perception, attention, reasoning, problem-solving, and language. By understanding how the mind works, cognitive science…
Inclusive drama activities are those that involve and engage students with special educational needs (SEN) in creative and collaborative ways. Some we have included 8 examples of inclusive drama activities for SEN pupils (UK) and a link to a free sample of 101 Drama Games Book which will give you 20 more. Adapting a Drama…
Who is Generation Z & How are they Influencing Education? Generation Z, or Gen Z for short, is the generation born between 1997 and 2012. They are the youngest and most diverse cohort in the workforce. All generations have different values, expectations, and preferences than older generations. These ECTs and young teachers grew up with…
Sensory Processing Disorder Links to Childhood Behaviour As behaviour lead one of the most frequent questions that I often get asked is: “How does sensory input impact behaviour?” To answer this question I need the support of Sensory OTs and assessment tools. To support the child we need to delve into the intricacies of sensory…
Using AI (Appreciative Inquiry not the other AI!) in Coaching Middle Leaders in Schools Appreciative Inquiry is a coaching methodology that focuses on nurturing strengths rather than fixing weaknesses. First pioneered by David Cooperrider in the 1980s, AI involves guiding individuals through a reflective process to unlock their hidden talents, re-energise their passion, and build…
Teachers’ Pension Scheme: Strategies for a Comfortable Retirement As I approach the age where I have to accept I am as close to retirement as I am to the start of my career, I need to start thinking about my pension more seriously. I was also worried by the findings of this news report of…
Why do you want to be a headteacher? & Why do you want to be Headteacher of our school? “Why do you want to be a Headteacher?” is a common and important question for aspiring headteachers, as it allows the interviewer to assess your motivation, vision and suitability for the role. It is important to…
The Role of Middle Leaders/Managers in Schools This post was inspired by this article on how organisations overlook the potential of their middle managers from the Big Think. Since my NPQML I felt that there was a severe undervaluing of middle managers in schools, You can read my naive reflection from the start of my…
As I step outside into the cold air and crunch through the fresh, fluffy snow, the bright white flakes glisten in the morning sun. I gather up a glove full of snow and squash it into a tight ball. This will be our Snowman… Our dressing up style winter Sensory Story uses simple language to…
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