Key Stage 3

Assessment image

Getting the best out of assessment

Susan Thompson What issues should you consider to make sure your investment in assessment delivers for students, teachers and your schools? Assessment is now a routine and essential element of school life. Using classroom activities, homework assignments, periodic testing, or once-a-year summative assessments; teachers constantly monitor and appraise the students… Read More
Students discussing RSE

Why we should all be talking about RSE

Jo Fliski From 2020 it will be compulsory for all secondary schools to teach both relationship education and sex education and for primary schools to be teaching relationships to young people. The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes found that young people, and young woman especially, who learn about sex and… Read More

5-year Science course teaching: what’s the big picture?

A couple of years ago I was at a science education conference and ended up in the same workshop group as (Lord) Jim Knight, who had previously been a Schools Minister. At the time the new GCSE Science specifications were in the process of development. I offered the opinion that… Read More

GCSE RS: Responding to new challenges

Knowing Religion is a new series of nine Key Stage 3 RE textbooks. In this blog, we discuss the books with Series Editor and author of Islam, Christianity and Biblical Literacy, Robert Orme. The new GCSE RS specifications first examined in 2018 offer teachers an exciting opportunity to… Read More

Why Knowing Religion?

Knowing Religion is a new series of nine Key Stage 3 RE textbooks out this month. In this blog, we discuss the books with Series Editor and author of Islam, Christianity and Biblical Literacy, Robert Orme. Read More

We’re in here for the long haul

One of the issues that’s exercising quite a few minds in science education at the moment is how to cover the content in the new GCSE specifications in the time available. Many people are, very understandably, flipping through not only the amount but thinking about the depth of the material… Read More

Ed Walsh: Name the Prequel

One of the games I used to play with my children was suggesting the (imaginary) movie prequel. As they got older, and better, we had to give points and you got more for being less obvious.  ‘Prince Kong’ wouldn’t do well, for example but ‘Reservoir Puppies’ was better and ‘Humming… Read More

Tackling underachievement in English

Tackling underachievement in English This year I took a different approach to setting our year 9 English groups. The problem with focusing on current attainment data is that you risk writing-off students who are not currently reaching their potential, and the problem with focusing on prior… Read More

Life on a South American boat

The Altiplano, Peru Hello I mentioned that I intended writing a blog on South America in the previous offering on Clades, here it is! The airports in Lima or Quito look the same as those in Europe, leaving this familiarity,… Read More