The Perfect Role Model
First published in Teach Nursery Magazine in March 2011.You have little influence on the models of behaviour that are demonstrated at home. Through the children you hear echoes of chaotic home lives,...
View ArticleTargets and Tube Maps
First published in Teach Primary Magazine in February 2010.I am not a fan of the target setting culture. I know that I am not alone. The huge emphasis on target setting and the bureaucracy that...
View ArticleStaying in control
First published in Teach Nursery Magazine in November 2011.Young children who get angry either do it because they have learned that it works for them or are angry but don't know why. In the first...
View ArticleBeyond Carrots and Sticks
First published in Child Education PLUS Magazine in December 2010. "If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."Albert EinsteinThe image...
View ArticleToss away the stick of isolation
First published Times Educational Supplement (TESPro Magazine) October 2011I have been looking for the biggest stick.I searched right down the punishment scale. I rejected losing points, phone calls...
View ArticleBorn to be Bad
First published in Teach Primary Magazine in February 2011.We plan our delivery of the curriculum in minute detail. Hours are spent poring over lessons, differentiating materials and preparing...
View ArticleShow and Tell
First published in Teach Nursery Magazine in May 2012.How is it that my three-year-old cannot read a word, yet can find his way around my phone without a pause for thought? He can decipher images, send...
View ArticleSEAL for Staffrooms
First published in Teach Primary Magazine in February 2009.Erasing labels and rejecting a culture of blameSEAL skills are modelled, sign posted and caught, not simply taught. For your school to be...
View ArticleTip for LSA
First published in Teach Primary Magazine in February 2009.We often establish rules and routines with the children about work and behaviour but rarely about how they should behave towards us. Tomorrow...
View ArticleBehind Closed Doors
First published in Teach Primary Magazine in June 2011.Some behaviours appear to be utterly irrational, some just bloody-minded. Can the search for a cause lead us into amateur social work and faux...
View ArticleProphets and Loss
First published Times Educational Supplement (TESPro Magazine) December 2011The miracle prophets are touring the country with seductive promises. Headteachers are being told you exclude them today and,...
View ArticleWatch your tone!
First published in Teach Nursery Magazine in February 2012.It is not just what you say but the way that you say it. The finest actors never show the extremes of their range. So it goes with your...
View Article2 Simple Things
First published in Teach Primary Magazine in October 2011.I have a soft toy; a fox, who sits on my bed. Not the most manly confession, but yes, at 41, I have a fox who sits on my bed. The fox came with...
View ArticleThe Bridge Project
We are pleased to announce that, through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield. We will be publishing this book in...
View ArticleThe Bridge Project - Chapter 1
Through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield. We are publishing this book in chapters. Every week a new chapter will be...
View ArticleThe Bridge Project - Chapter 2
Through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield. We are publishing this book in chapters. Every week a new chapter will be...
View ArticleThe Bridge Project - Chapter 3
Through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield.We are publishing this book in chapters. Every week a new chapter will be...
View ArticleThe Bridge Project - Chapter 4
Through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield.We are publishing this book in chapters. Every week a new chapter will be...
View ArticleThe Bridge Project - Chapter 5
Through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield.We are publishing this book in chapters. Every week a new chapter will be...
View ArticleThe Bridge Project - Chapter 6
Through the Pivotal Blog, we are publishing in full "Views from the Bridge" a book about the Bridge Project in Chesterfield.We are publishing this book in chapters. Every week a new chapter will be...
View Article