The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant disruption to our education system - on the one hand, it has turbo-charged the development of remote learning solutions; but on the other hand, it has presented many new challenges and dramatically shaken up the way our children are taught.

Improving and then maintaining school improvement at any time is challenging; no one can deny that this is even more so during the current pandemic. Our own experiences as school leaders, and recent research (e.g. Education Endowment Fund), has evidenced the negative impact of the lockdown on the progress of all pupils, with our most vulnerable being in an even more disadvantaged position.

I feel quite sure the main issue at the forefront of the minds of all primary educators, after the difficult, enforced absence from the classroom for the majority of our pupils, is how we can now maximise and improve children’s performance across all aspects of English and mathematics.

Times might be challenging for school leaders right now, but it seems many are forging ahead with their commitment to continuous quality improvement, and giving their schools reason to celebrate at the beginning of the academic year.

How to deliver virtual lessons

Over the years, staff at Tribal have delivered countless online training sessions, live broadcast webinars and virtual demos. So, we've pooled our advice together on how to make virtual lessons a little bit easier.

GDPR best practice: how to reduce the risk of a data breach

In recent months, it has become apparent that Universities and Colleges are ‘under attack’ or at risk of data breaches. Both the GDPR and the corresponding UK Data Protection Act (2018) are just two examples of international data breach notification laws that have come into play in recent years.

Weedon (2018) describes the SENCo as ‘being at the confluence of an ever-increasing barrage of expectations and demands’. Shrinking SEN budgets, increasingly complex pupil needs, and a profession at near crisis point in terms of recruitment and retention, sets a bleak scene in which to support some of our most vulnerable learners. As a busy SENCo (often juggling other roles in school too) it can feel impossible to be ‘something to everyone’. So what is it that makes highly effective leadership of provision for pupils with SEN? 

There is often the notion that challenging behaviour in class interferes with teaching and therefore it is the child or young person at fault. However in reality, the misbehaviour of some pupils is often a camouflage to hide a whole host of other challenges that the child or young person may be experiencing in class, like, for example speech and language difficulties that prevent communication or writing.

10 ways to improve literacy and numeracy skills in Primary Schools

Primary Schools, or more specifically the people working in Primary Schools, make such a difference to young people’s lives. Fine motor, gross motor, and sensory development skills along with social and emotional learning competencies, are the foundations to adult life. 

The past two decades have seen growing awareness of the role STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) play in preparing young Australians for the jobs of today – and tomorrow.