Time for a Sabbatical. I’m taking a break! See you in March!

At the end of this week I’m signing off from work for the next six or seven months. My wife is taking a sabbatical from her job as Deputy Head and I’m doing the same so we can go travelling. We’re going to France, then Australia and Indonesia before heading back to the UK at the end of February next year. I’ve got 5 or 6 days’ work during that time – some conference events in Australia and a job in Brunei- but otherwise, I’m going to take a full break – deleting Twitter from my phone and pausing my blogging.

I’ve managed to sustain my blogging output reasonably well for 12 years, passing the 10 million mark earlier this year, but for sure I’ve been flagging so it was probably a good time to pause anyway. My last two posts are a round-up of the things I’ve seen in the last year where schools and teachers are doing great work:

I’ve had such a great time in the last year working with Emma Turner on our podcast. We’ve nearly reached 250,000 downloads – averaging around 3000 per episode. We’re thrilled about that. The recent episodes are superb – our guests all brilliant. Check it out.

Inside Craig Barton’s 16-Book Teaching Project, Mind the Gap, Ep.117 (S6,E15) Mind the Gap: Making Education Work Across the Globe

On this episode of Mind the Gap, Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by Craig Barton – maths teacher, podcaster, and co-founder of Eedi – to discuss his ambitious new project: a series of 16 short books, each exploring a single, highly specific element of classroom practice. Drawing on three to four years spent visiting schools and observing hundreds of lessons, Craig explains the thinking behind the project and the principle that every idea included had to be seen working successfully in multiple classrooms. The conversation dives deep into practical teaching techniques, from mini whiteboards and checking for understanding to do-nows and the importance of gathering reliable data about what pupils actually know. Along the way, Craig shares the small but crucial routines that make these strategies effective in practice and reflects on why seemingly simple classroom tools often require careful thought, structure, and purpose to work well. Towards the end of the episode, Craig also delves into the research project his company Eedi did with Google and AI, and its implications for that technology in teaching and learning.Craig Barton has been teaching maths since 2004, and in 2009, he became the Secondary Mathematics adviser for the Times Educational Supplement (TES). He is the creator of the popular mrbartonmaths.com website and blog, which provides free resources to teachers and students all around the world. Craig also hosts the Mr Barton Maths Podcast. He is the co-creator of Diagnostic Questions, a formative assessment website hosting the world's largest collection of high-quality maths diagnostic multiple choice questions, which aims to help students and teachers from all around the world to identify, understand and resolve key misconceptions. More recently he has created the websites variationtheory.com, ssddproblems.com, and mathsvenns.com, with millions of teachers from across the globe sharing high-quality resources based on ideas from Craig's books. Those books include the recently released Tips for Teachers guides, which you can find at https://tipsforteachers.co.uk/books/Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specialising in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. He regularly contributes to conferences and CPD sessions locally and nationally and is busy working in schools and colleges across the UK and around the world. Follow Tom on X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@teacherhead⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Emma Turner FCCT is a school improvement advisor, education consultant, trainer and author. She has almost three decades of primary teaching, headship and leadership experience across the sector, working and leading in both MATs and LAs. She works nationally and internationally on school improvement including at single school level and at scale. She has a particular interest in research informed practice in the primary phase, early career development, and CPD design. Follow Emma on X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@emma_turner75⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast is sponsored by Teaching WalkThrus and produced in association with Haringey Education Partnership. Find out more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://walkthrus.co.uk/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://haringeyeducationpartnership.co.uk/⁠
  1. Inside Craig Barton’s 16-Book Teaching Project, Mind the Gap, Ep.117 (S6,E15)
  2. Scaffolding Effectively with Alex Fairlamb and Rachel Ball, Mind the Gap, Ep.116 (S6,E14)
  3. The Power of Teams in Schools with Sam Crome, Mind the Gap, Ep.115 (S6,E13)

The big news is that Mind the Gap will continue in my absence with the brilliant Jon Hutchinson joining Emma as co-host. They’re already lining up guests for the new season in autumn!

It’s been an incredible five years since Walkthrus was conceived – with now over 4000 schools using our materials and nearly 3000 subscribing members. It’s been pretty full on all that time but I feel I can step away for a while knowing Walkthrus is in safe hands with Matt Stone running the show alongside Oliver. They’ve got tons of school projects lined up and we’ll be working towards writing and publishing our coaching book next year. The team of consultants is brilliant – and you can find out more about working with them via the Walkthrus site;

More widely I think I feel a kind of deep tiredness – common to most teachers reaching the end of term, I know! As well as Walkthrus growing into something bigger than I ever imagined, I’ve been on the road visiting schools for 7 1/2 years, going anywhere that invites me! I’ve done a lot of miles and it now feels like a good time for a break. Thanks to everyone who has invited me to work with them since 2017 – it’s been an incredible experience for me to meet so many teachers and school leaders all over the UK and around the world. I’m continually inspired by the wonderful people I meet, doing incredible work.

OK -so it’s goodbye for now. I might dip in and out occasionally, but I’m unlikely to reply to any emails or tweets once I’ve shut down. I will be back in March 2025 ready for action. So – see you then. Have a great summer if you’re nearly there. Hope all goes well in the new school year. There’s an optimism in the air …

If you ever wonder where I am, picture me doing this….

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