Simon Says

Embracing Growth and Positive Change: A Year of Progress at CST Schools

Simon — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 04:51:10 +0000

Embracing Growth and Positive Change: A Year of Progress at CST Schools I hope you all had a great summer, even though August and September appear to have been jumbled up this year. I am really pleased to welcome The Petchey Academy and Haggerston to our growing trust. I strongly believe that a group of schools […]

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Exam Factories

Simon — Fri, 26 May 2023 14:30:05 +0000

ur iphone was made in a factory in China. 350,000 people work there, apparently. Some of the people do varied, interesting and skilled jobs but most do repetitive and menial tasks to a high standard, hour after hour. There are strict quality quality control checks.

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Suits

Simon — Fri, 19 May 2023 15:20:57 +0000

Suits It keeps happening to me. I wasn’t aware of it before but I am now. Last week, I noticed it on four occasions on the train. I was the only one. It’s weird how I didn’t see it previously, as if the model I was running of the world had been fixed from years ago: […]

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It’s not you, it’s me

Simon — Fri, 12 May 2023 14:09:58 +0000

It’s not you, it’s me There are certain phrases that are red flags. Some of these are well known, such as “It’s not you, it’s me.” But others are less so. This week, we will focus on “sharing good practice.” As a teacher, senior leader, and headteacher, I too have been seduced by these powerful […]

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Changing Behavior by Creating the Right Conditions

Simon — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:33:08 +0000

Changing Behavior by Creating the Right Conditions Once, at a football cup final, a fan friend of a friend spent a good part of the game swearing and arguing at the referee’s assistant. “Lino – you nasty little XXXX” and “Linesman – you XXXXXXX cheat!” This friend was a respectable pillar of society with a […]

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Opportunity Cost in Education: Making Tough Choices for Student Success

Simon — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:28:51 +0000

Opportunity Cost in Education: Making Tough Choices for Student Success Polygamous peacocks have massive tail feathers which they display to attract females, a bit like me with my fashion clothes, but not the polygamy bit. The peacock feathers are so ornate that they limit the birds’ ability to fly. At best, when a bit worried, […]

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The Science of Meetings and Lessons: How to Make Them Productive

Simon — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:25:31 +0000

The Science of Meetings and Lessons: How to Make Them Productive A headteacher colleague of mine said he spent 9 hours in a meeting this week. Think about that for a minute. Then try and think about it for 32,400 minutes and it becomes rather difficult. As someone once said, “everyone should take part in […]

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Exam Season and the Power of Future Planning in Education

Simon — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:22:47 +0000

Exam Season and the Power of Future Planning in Education Some of us have plans for the future and what we want to achieve personally and also what we want to achieve for our students. Exam season helps concentrate the mind. What would our students want for their lives if we asked them to stop […]

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The Good Samaritan Study and Its Implications for Education

Simon — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 17:20:45 +0000

The Good Samaritan Study and Its Implications for Education If you like zombie films and TV dramas, and let’s face it, who doesn’t, there’s always a tension between what’s worse: the flesh-eating biters or the desperate, surviving humans. The breakdown of human society created by the undead apocalypse is what often grips the most. The […]

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