Principal @astreaernulf • Always on the lookout for great teachers • COYG

Joined September 2014
Join our mission to become one of the BEST schools in the country! 🚀 tes.com/jobs/employer/ernulf… -
In Sept 2022 1/9 Astrea secondaries were graded as 'Good'. With @AstreaErnulf now 'Good' in all areas, 9/9 are now 'Good' with four being 'Good' for the 1st time! Congratulations to everyone! 🎆 This is a HUGE achievement! We now crack on with our mission to disrupt disadvantage!
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Thomas James retweeted
Shot // chaser This is the kind of thing we are dealing with. People, including my colleagues in teaching, don't take us seriously, based on zero knowledge or experience. 11,000 likes.
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Thomas James retweeted
Labour education ministers and advisers have a fatal attraction to evidence-free ideas that make for a good tweet.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that 'oracy' is an ancient term. But did you know that it was dreamed up in 1965 by a Birmingham academic? What followed were decades of untested educational experiments which left children worse off. Now Lucy Powell wants to do it all again.
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Thomas James retweeted
Replying to @JAHeale
Why do posh people manage to fail upwards all the time?
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A Notice to Improve for Athena Learning Trust, with an expectation that suspensions be reduced. It seems the national average is becoming the benchmark to aspire to, rather than whether suspensions are necessary, proportionate and effective in maintaining safe and orderly schools. Add to this the collection of data on internal suspensions and reflection rooms, and the direction of travel is concerning. More troubling still are those in positions of authority seemingly eager to implement these measures, aligning themselves with the prevailing zeitgeist rather than defending high standards and strong school cultures.
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Past performance is one of the strongest indicators of future performance. A proven track record matters far more than promises, rhetoric or aspirations.
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Thomas James retweeted
This would be obviously gameable and gamed, and hence lack validity or usefulness. Key Stage 2 exams have been necessary and desirable to help drive up standards. I can think of no good reason to remove them.
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Thomas James retweeted
Reducing inequality in education outcomes by…no longer measuring it This policy would be utterly laughable were it not so harmful
📚 | NEW REPORT: Disadvantaged children are nearly three times less likely to achieve the highest marks in Year 6 SATs. We call for a rethink of primary school assessments to reduce inequality, ease pressure on teachers and create a fairer system for all pupils. Read here 👇 ippr.org/articles/what-comes…
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Thomas James retweeted
Has she read the framework? Inclusion is not often measured? It's literally a whole area and runs through every conversation. Whether we are looking at it the right way is a question but you can't say it's not looked at!
.@AliFortescue: Do you have confidence in Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver? Education Secretary Lucy Powell: I've got confidence in Ofsted. Read more from the interview after a landmark report on antisemitism in schools 🔗 news.sky.com/story/politics-…
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Thomas James retweeted
Just found out about recency bias. Maybe the most important bias ever
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How has the Year 7 admissions deadline come around so quickly?! The countdown is on as we start planning for our next cohort! It will be September 2027 before we know it! 😲
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Thomas James retweeted
As for oracy itself, the best maths teacher I ever worked with (and the teacher that, objectively, probably got the highest Progress 8 for any kids in the country) was obsessed with language. The word 'it' was basically banned.
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Thomas James retweeted
I would like to make a £500 bet to charity with @LucyMPowell that A. if you introduce technical GCSEs in 2029, then B. by 2034 the number of students on free school meals taking history, geography and languages will have dropped by 10% or more. Every single line of this reads as a red flag. I profoundly hope that it doesn't come to fruition, and we respect the Francis review and don't make unevidenced and counterproductive changes. thetimes.com/article/281f80d…
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But it is possible that our 'coasting' school, on raw data, has higher results (or whatever) than our mould breaker. We really don't want to be sending our 'mould breaker' to the 'coasting' to learn bad habits from them!
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Thomas James retweeted
From Etihad Airways 60-page submission to John Kerry, US Department Secretary of State, Antony Foxx, US Department of Transportation Secretary and Penny Pritzker, US Department of Commerce Secretary on May 31, 2015
#MCFC’s key defence in its appeal over the Premier League guilty verdict was denied by its own title sponsor Etihad Airways in an extensive submission to the US government in 2015 With @SamWallaceTel ⬇️ telegraph.co.uk/football/202…
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Thomas James retweeted
The way City/Abu Dhabi are behaving with the UK government - threats, intimidation, aggressive lobbying - can we rule out that they haven’t behaved this way with players, clubs and referees in order to get their own way? Becoming a bigger stain on our game with each passing day.
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Man of the (rich) people
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Sunderland spent 8 YEARS in the Championship. One season back in the Premier League and they’re already playing in Europe. Brighton are in Europe. Bournemouth are in Europe — a club that was practically on its knees when Eddie Howe took over. Crystal Palace are in Europe AGAIN after beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final. And somehow we’re still being told the Premier League is a “closed shop”? 😂 Look at what’s happening: Brighton went 2-0 down to Man United in the Carabao Cup and came back to win 3-2. Three days later, they absolutely dismantled Arsenal. Brentford put three past Chelsea that same weekend. Hull came up from the Championship and have already beaten United and taken a point at Stamford Bridge. They’re sitting 8th. Where exactly is this “no chance for smaller clubs” argument coming from? And I genuinely don't understand the “red cartel” argument either. Arsenal waited 22 years for another league title. Liverpool have won two league titles in roughly four decades. United haven't won the Premier League in 13 years. So what exactly is PSR supposedly protecting these clubs from? 😂 Trophies? Because over the last decade, the clubs collecting the most silverware have been Manchester City and Chelsea — the same clubs at the centre of major financial-rule controversies. Yet somehow we're supposed to believe the problem is everyone else. At some point, you have to take responsibility. “We had no choice.” Yes, you did. Brighton had the same choice. So did Brentford. So did Bournemouth. They built gradually, developed players, recruited intelligently and stayed within the framework. And now they're competing at the top end of English football. Maybe the problem isn't that the door is closed. Maybe some clubs simply don't like the fact that everyone has to walk through the same door now. 😭 PSR hasn't stopped competition. If anything, look at the clubs breaking through and tell me the competition is dead. The excuses need to stop. 😤
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Thomas James retweeted
Exclusive: Teach First is switching its focus from cities to coastal and rural communities, and cutting training costs for schools, with the aim of better supporting disadvantaged pupils tes.com/magazine/news/genera…
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Thomas James retweeted
One of the rules of government is "don't promise to do something outside of your control" So, don't promise that there will be more work experience placements. Don't promise that people will think of pre-16 vocational qualifications with the same weight as academic ones. Don't promise that schools will be able to deliver from 2029 what FE colleges are currently struggling to deliver. Don't promise that introducing vocational qualifications is going to help with the NEET crisis.
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