It’s a brand new year, and it’s time to start thinking about new year’s resolutions. Amongst the usual commitments to eat less chocolate, exercise more often, and to finally finish your long-term project, consider adding an organisational spring clean.
Thanks to her new Netflix show, the world is gripped in Marie Kondo’s KonMari method, a new organisational system for your home. If you’ve never heard of it, it involves splitting up your possessions into different categories and compartmentalising them according to their characteristics; the idea is to customise it to match you.
Organising Your Classroom
As humans, our mental state and drive are...
We aren’t like other planner companies. Our school planners are made to order, with the process fully controlled by you from start to finish.
What is “SPC Customised”?
If you’re looking for student planners for your school, you’ve probably heard other planner companies use the word “customised”.
We do customisation differently. SPC Customised means fully bespoke. Nothing is included in our planners as standard; our customers decide the content of every page, from cover to cover.
While unlimited choice can seem a bit overwhelming, we also want to help you create your new planners as best we can. You can ask our planner experts...
However you may feel about it, there’s no denying that the growth mindset produces results. It’s impossible to swing a proverbial cat in education nowadays without bumping into the growth mindset and associated pedagogies (something that we’ve previously covered in this article). So why not our classrooms, too?
To commemorate the launch of our new 96-page diary section, we’ve created a series of completely free growth mindset posters to download. Print them out, stick them around the classroom, and inspire young and inquisitive minds to push harder and achieve their true potential.
You can download your free poster gift here.
If you’re just...
As a teacher, it’s all too easy to get ill at work. Schools are a hotbed for illness, and, sooner or later, it’s going to be passed on to you.
First things first: do away with that teacher guilt that all school staff are burdened with. If you’re not well, you can’t do much about it, and you won’t be much use in the classroom anyway. Everybody gets sick; it’s okay to admit it. If you struggle through your illness to go in to work, you could end up making the problem worse and need even more time off to compensate.
You...
Plastic. It’s the dirty word nobody wants to hear. Whatever we do in our day-to-day lives, from public transport to the very food we eat, plastic is everywhere.
While we may not have been aware of the dangers of plastics while growing up, the current generation of children are more in-touch with the dangers of pollution than any preceding it. This is largely attributed to David Attenborough’s work with Blue Planet II, but there’s also increasing societal pressure to find a solution to this problem – pressure that was made clear by the introduction of the supermarket carrier bag tariff.
Today’s children...
Congratulations! You’ve made it through another year. Now put down that box of books, stow away your green and purple pens, and take a deep breath.
It’s difficult to disengage as a teacher. You’re so used to being in “I have too much marking” mode, it becomes normal. However, working in one of the world’s most stressful professions, it’s important that you take some time out for yourself and relax.
But how can you relax when someone points out your “excessive” holidays for the umpteenth time?
Ignore the Naysayers
Take no notice of it. No, you don’t work 09:00-15:30, and the rest of us...
Classroom teachers are set to enjoy a pay rise of up to 3.5%, in an exciting measure that means the end of real-terms pay cuts for teaching staff. However, this isn’t being awarded across the board. Headteachers and other senior staff look set to get between 1.5% to 2% instead, which means their year-on-year pay still won’t keep up with inflation.
This isn’t the end of the impact of austerity measures, although an upwards trend has to be celebrated. Those in senior positions are still receiving a real-terms pay cut, although a lesser one than in previous years. Classroom teachers will...
Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH) issues have become the proverbial elephant in the classroom, and are now recognised in the 2014 SEND Code of Practice.
It’s vitally important to notice these issues as they develop in children and to take action, as it can affect their education, future life prospects, and how they develop relationships and attitudes as they grow older.
Often, SEMH issues stem from other, concealed issues, whether these be problems at home, depression, anxiety at school, or disorders such as ADHD.
Whatever the catalyst for this trend – social media, societal change, increasing academic pressure, or improved diagnosis –...
Is it right to assess four- to five-year-olds? The proposed baseline assessment test will only be sat for a few minutes, but the impact of these tests could be more wide-reaching.
Due to be piloted in 2019, there are plans to implement primary baseline assessment nationwide in 2020 following a successful trial. Assessment will be carried out via a 20-minute test that spans literacy, numeracy, and emotional literacy, with an aim to getting a snapshot of children’s ability as they enter school.
The stated aim is to track improvement from Reception class to Year 6, and to use this data to provide...
Average classroom teaching wages have received a £2,500 pay cut in real terms over seven years. Annual pay reviews haven’t risen at the same rate as inflation, and it’s leaving a lot of teaching staff underpaid and overworked.
It’s not just schools that have to look for additional funding these days; teachers also have to look for additional ways to augment their salary to make up this deficit. When you consider the stack of marking you crush through every night, you’re already working a second job – so that’s out of the question. Fortunately, as a classroom teacher, there are ways...
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