Over the past few days, I have received messages from school leaders and teachers across the country. Many have shared stories of unexpected marking decisions, disputed reviews and outcomes that simply do not seem to align with the evidence in... Continue Reading →
"Be reassured results are accurate" Bridget Phillipson - Schools Week 16th July 2025 My team have spent much of the past two days doing something that I suspect many school leaders across the country are doing right now. Checking SATs scripts.... Continue Reading →
If you’ve been around long enough in educational leadership, you start to see cycles. One statement that never seems to go away is the - We take all the children with SEND whilst that school up the road does nothing....... Continue Reading →
On Inclusion: From my book - Lessons From the Heads Office - Sage 2023 "Creating a sense of belonging within and beyond the boundaries of our school is a fundamental cog in the system of good educational leadership. Inclusion should... Continue Reading →
5 minutes read time.
For more than a decade, I’ve led a 0-11 (All Year Round - 0-18 in holidays) mainstream primary school for over 600 children. We run a highly successful 55‑place specialist provision embedded within the heart of our school. Over 130... Continue Reading →
This week’s Government announcement of at least £3 billion to expand specialist places within mainstream schools could be a significant moment for creating more inclusive schools. The plan is to create tens of thousands of tailored spaces in local schools,... Continue Reading →
CONTENT WARNING - Once again – this is a ramble – this topic is huge and I start to hit on issues that I could spend thousands of hours on (And still get nowhere!). That’s not the purpose of a... Continue Reading →
Last week The Inclusion series was released by Mime and it highlighted some worrying statistics and trends regarding inclusiveness and equality within our education systems. In recent months I have commented a lot about the term ‘Inclusion’ – in fact... Continue Reading →
