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(SPaG) Tests: Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Do Teachers Have Enough Support to Deliver Them?

In 2013, the UK government introduced compulsory ‘SPaG’ (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) tests for all state schools in England at the end of Key Stage 2. This was because statistics revealed that children between 7-11 were below their expected level for writing ability.

A further test was also introduced in 2017 for children at the end of Key Stage 1, with the original KS2 test revised according to the National Curriculum. That year, despite arguments against the test, 77% of children reached the expected standard of the SPaG test.

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Testing Children Too Much?
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Are We Testing Children Too Much?

Jeremy Corbyn recently pledged that if elected, Labour would scrap formal tests in primary schools in England. Speaking to members of the National Education Union in Liverpool, Corbyn claimed that SATS leave children in floods of tears or vomiting with worry.

He also said that the move would free up schools struggling with funding cuts and congested classrooms, and help teacher recruitment and retention.

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Ofsted Inspection Myths
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7 Ofsted Inspection Myths

Despite the fact that every teacher should have read Ofsted’s school inspection handbook, which goes into detail about things like the evaluation schedule and grade descriptors, several inspection myths still exist.

So, to provide clarification over the facts once and for all, here are 7 Ofsted inspection myths you should pay no attention to whatsoever.

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Cognitive Theory
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Cognitive Load Theory – What You Need to Know

In recent years, an increasing number of teachers and schools have started to adopt research and evidence-based practices.

One notable example is cognitive load theory, which has been described by Dylan William as “the single most important thing for teachers to know.”

But what do we mean by cognitive load theory? And how can it impact the classroom? Here’s what you need to know.

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School Examinations Failing Some Pupils
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Are School Examinations Failing Some of Our Pupils?

It is fair to say that throughout life, people are measured and judged against certain benchmarks, which don’t always paint true-to-life pictures of character or capability.

The exact same thing can be said for our current examination system, which ignores the individuality of each student – it’s simply the strongest and fittest who survive.

So, does that mean to say we are failing our pupils with school examinations?

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ofsted
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How Do Ofsted Select A School For Inspection?

Every week, Ofsted carries out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits of services providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

For many years, it has used statistical models to ensure proportionate inspection of maintained schools and academies as well as independent educational institutions and programmes.

But in March 2018, Ofsted released a publication outlining the risk assessment process for good and outstanding maintained schools and academies, which involved individual assessment of published data alongside a more in-depth ‘desk-based’ review of a wider range of available information.

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Behaviour Management for Early Career Teachers
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Behaviour Management for ECTs

Getting to know your students is never easy, especially in the first term of a new school year. But now that you’ve spent some quality time with your class and the distraction of the Christmas holidays has disappeared, this is the perfect opportunity to gain a better understanding of your students both as learners and people.

By doing so, you’ll be able to build strong relationships and a favourable rapport with your class, which in turn can help you become a master of behaviour management. Throughout the rest of your career in education, you’ll soon realise that this is an invaluable and indispensable skill.

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Teacher Role Model
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Top Tips For Becoming A Teacher Role Model

It is easy for teachers to feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. Not only are teachers trusted with the learning and development of children, they must also act as inspirational and influential ‘role models’.

But in many respects, the attitudes and attributes of good teachers go hand-in-hand with role models…

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Promote Kindness in The Classroom
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5 Ways To Promote Kindness in The Classroom

On a day-to-day basis, most teachers will witness children misbehaving or being somewhat cruel to each other. But thankfully, there’s an innate kindness in everyone, which simply needs a little bit of classroom cultivation.

Famed naturalist and geologist Charles Darwin believed that kindness was one of the strongest instincts in humans stating, “those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring.”

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Email Protocol for Schools
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The Importance of Email Protocol for Schools

The amount of data today’s society produces is absolutely astonishing. Every day, there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created, which is only accelerating with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). What’s more, 90 per cent of the data in the world that exists today was generated in the last two years alone.

In terms of electronic communication, 156 million emails are sent every minute, of which 66 per cent is spam. When you throw phone calls, text messages, social media notifications into the mix, its easy to get completely overwhelmed when trying to manage your email inbox at school.

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