Teaching has had to change drastically this year with strict Covid restrictions coming in to play. Often as Christmas approaches teachers are busy planning Christmas plays and winding down the class ready for the break but it is very unlikely that Christmas plays will be going ahead this year and if they do, they will be somewhat different. You may find it hard to get the children to concentrate as much as they often start to get excited and may easily become distracted but rather than getting stressed by this, embrace it and start to bring Christmas in to your lesson plans. Think of way in which you can incorporate Christmas to plan an exciting and creative lesson that the children will love getting involved in. For example, you may... Read More »
For a number of years now many teachers have complained that too much is expected of them and that they should have more help in the classroom and also time to prepare, plan and mark work. Most teachers have a TA working with them but often they do not have a TA with them all day. IF the teacher needs to go out the room, they cannot leave the children unattended so this makes it very hard for them if they have no TA. A teaching assistant can sit with a small group of children or sometimes one or two individuals to help them with the task that has been set. It is their job to ensure that the child understands what they need to do and to possible help... Read More »
Many parents can’t wait to send their offspring back to school after the many months of home schooling they have been forced to do but is it safe for children to go back to school and how confident can parents be that their child will be safe? There is an enormous debate going on between politicians, teaching unions and parents about the measures that are needed to allow schools to open safely in September. Data has been produced indicating that in other countries schools have been able to reopen without any significant rise in Covid infection rates so what do schools need to do if we want our children to restart their education again? There has been lots of talk about having bubbles of staff and children and this worked... Read More »
For many children in the UK the amount of school time that has been lost due to the Coronavirus pandemic has been upwards of three months causing lots of parents to feel anxious about their children’s lack of academic progress during this time. The government are proposing catch up programmes that will be in place in schools for the autumn term but is it going to be feasible to ensure that each pupil is given the opportunity to take part in these programmes and make the expected progress that they would have done were they not to have missed out on their education? What many people do not realise is that children’s development is not linear that is to say they grow and develop in fits and starts sometimes having... Read More »
There are a wide variety of primary schools in the UK ranging from large academies catering for in excess of a thousand pupils to small rural primaries which have just two classes and a total of less than fifty pupils on roll. It is a matter of personal choice which setting suits you as a primary school teacher with some teachers starting out at one end of the spectrum and changing their preference as they progress with their career but does it make a difference to your career progression and is a larger school better to work in if you have set your sights on a headship? The most obvious variance is that a larger school will usually have a higher turnover of staff giving the current staff the opportunity... Read More »
