Josh Vallance @VallanceTeach Twitter profile

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Overheard in my year 11 class today: “He actually looks ok for someone in his 40s” I’m 28.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Just observed a teacher who responded to a student giving the wrong answer by saying, “I’m really glad you made that mistake because it allowed us to see that...” Felt like such a simple and powerful way to build a culture of engagement/ risk-taking in the class.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

As some of you may know, on Thursday 30th December we lost a member of our school community in a brutal and unprovoked attack. Zaian was brilliant. He was charming, charismatic, funny, and sensitive. His loss has left an enormous hole in our school. (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Sharing our curriculum intent handbook for those who are interested. ✅ Curriculum theory ✅ Subject communities ✅ Glossary ✅ Models and examples ❌ Generic nonsense

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

1 year

Curriculum handbook. A resource designed to: 📖 improve curricular understanding 👥 develop a shared language around curriculum 🔗 connect teachers to their subject communities

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Reading for pleasure KS4 extract booklet. 20 juicy extracts from easily available books.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Bloody Catherine. All she ever does is talk about herself.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

We launched our new reading for pleasure programme a month ago. It's been great fun, so I thought I would share some details. So much of this work has been done by a brilliant colleague who pushed and pushed SLT to reform our approach to reading at OASP. THREAD:

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

SLT are duty bound to empower subject leads. That means giving them time (to read + think), support (CPD, conferences, access to subject communities), and respect (by not mandating whole school policies that mutilate subject distinctions).

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

LONG THREAD: I presented the new curriculum policy I've been working on to SLT this week and thought it worth sharing on here. I was interested in the two models that @ragazza_inglese outlined in her piece in the ResearchEd curriculum book. Both felt painfully familiar (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

My post on how to quickly embed strategies from #TheWritingRevolution into the History classroom. Here I look at the many alternatives to using declarative sentence stems in knowledge application tasks.

The Hochman method – sentence level instruction in the History classroom

Why teach writing at a sentence level? There are countless blog posts celebrating the transformative quality of Judith Hochman’s Writing Revolution. Jo Facer, for one, lauded the genuinely re…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

NEW POST: What do we really mean by the curriculum is the progression model? Long overdue, but the final post in my curriculum series aimed at those who are relatively new to curriculum.

Curriculum as the progression model: what are we really talking about?

This is the final post in a curriculum series I am writing for those who are relatively new to curriculum design, theory, and leadership. It would make most sense to read this final post having fir…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Have completely loved teaching our Y7 curriculum this year. We spent lots of time going back and refining stuff that didn’t work/re-planning where necessary. Am super happy with the result. You can download the first 3 themes here.

Resources

Below are a series of resources that are free to download, use and share. I will try aim to continually upload to this page throughout the year – enjoy! Curriculum YEAR 7 THEME 1 EXEMPLAR PPT…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Public sector real-term pay rises since 2011. Spot the teachers.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

NEW POST: My thoughts on what alignment could - and should - look like across secondary History and English. If we want students to write well, and use great words, we're better off working together.

Alignment across History and English: surely a good thing?

A few years ago my colleague in English Richard Gleig mentioned the benefits of cross-curricular alignment. We spoke about it then, but did very little to see any kind of plan come to fruition. In …

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

THREAD: After 2 years in the job I'll be leaving my post as national lead practitioner for History at Oasis Academies. I thought this would therefore be a good opportunity to share some of the work we have done.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Have been working on our whole-school curriculum review/ improvement process and no matter what I read I arrive at the same point. If we want to see curricula improvement then SLT *must* get knowledgable about (at least) the individual subjects and disciplines they line manage

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

All writing curriculum docs attached below. If you're interested in finding out how these could be used to develop student writing - as well as viewing a 5-year plan - then you can read my post about the benefits of a writing curriculum here

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

NEW POST: What do we really mean by a knowledge-rich curriculum? The second in my series aimed at those who are relatively new to curriculum. This post lays out why knowledge lies at the heart of Sherlock's critical thought.

Knowledge-rich: what are we really talking about?

Last week we thought about the curriculum as a narrative. A novel with an interrelated web of themes, plots and places. The analogy helps because it allows us to see the role that every piece of kn…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

NEW POST: What do we really mean by curriculum? The first in a series I am writing for those who are relatively new to curriculum. The aim is to bring the wealth of great writing and thinking about curriculum into a single, accessible sequence.

Curriculum: what are we really talking about?

About a year ago my interest in curriculum was piqued when a colleague recommended I read Michael Young’s Knowledge and the Future School. On the matter of curriculum, I was swiftly obsessional. I …

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

But we are also asking for any donations from members of the public who would like to give money to the project. Please donate and share the link. Any and all support is hugely appreciated. END

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

1 year

This week in Y7, we left the great trading empires of Mali and the Mongols behind, and we returned to England. THREAD

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

1 year

Next week, Y7 finally make the journey across the Atlantic Ocean and explore the wonderful Aztec Empire. THREAD 👇

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

NEW POST: What if all the organs of teacher improvement were pointed in the same direction? You can read about our integrated approach to CPD, departmental practice, and IC in this piece written by myself and our DP @ms_desai .

An Integrated Approach to Teacher Development

For as long as I can remember, the efforts of our school CPD have been focussed on trainee and NQT teachers. This was not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, given that so many of our teachers were n…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

History teachers. Someone is building a curriculum from scratch. They’ve asked for 3 books that will help and inspire them on this exciting journey. What are you recommending? I’ll start 👇🏼

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Over the past 10 years, £36 million has been cut from annual youth service budgets. In that time, the number of youth centers in London has decreased from 130 to 300. (4)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

NEW POST: What do we really mean by core and hinterland knowledge? The fifth in my series aimed at those who are fairly new to curriculum. This post looks at what knowledge eventually makes it into our classrooms and why.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

NEW POST: What might a 'writing curriculum' look like in secondary History? Thanks to @jonniegrande for his thoughts on this topic, and to @TheWritingRevol for forcing me to think harder. As ever, feedback/ criticism most welcome.

What might a ‘Writing Curriculum’ look like in Secondary History?

Last week I posted about the use of sentence-level instruction in my History classroom. I was touched to receive some very kind feedback from people I have long-admired. It was all the more pleasin…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Building your curriculum from scratch? At @rEDSurrey2021 I went through some of the how and why (thanks @joe__kirby for prompting me to share this). THREAD:

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

English studying The Northern Lights in Y7 Su1. Each class read the book in its entirety. Dept bought 50 copies of The Subtle Knife to loan out to anyone who fancied it. I kid you not 180 hands went up when students were asked who was interested. Reading whole texts is powerful.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

10 months

Quick🧵 I think storytelling in history is important, as much as anything else, because it satisfies that ‘what was life like back then’ curiosity. The bit that fascinated me as a child were the seemingly strange and peculiar worlds that existed inside history picture books.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 months

There are schools where behaviour is so bad that children are unsafe, don’t learn, and scores leave with no quals. You won’t hear about these schools in the press. Instead, you’ll find journalists bashing schools with high expectations. It’s lazy, unfair, and deeply unhelpful.

Liam Thorp

@LiamThorpECHO

3 months

Investigation: Scores of parents have spoken out about what they say are ‘cult like’ rules and cultures at a group of Liverpool schools We’ve also spoken to a whistleblowing teacher who has slammed the ‘chaotic’ academy trust Full story 👇

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Across the capital, young people are being deprived of the support they need and deserve. To create a lasting legacy in memory of Zaian, and with the blessing of his family, we aim to create the Zaian centre in a disused building in the park where he died. (5)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

NEW POST: What do we really mean by disciplinary knowledge? The third in my series aimed at those who are new to curriculum. This post considers the relationship between school subjects and academic disciplines, and what this means the curriculum.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Gave CPD today on the need to situate new learning within existing frameworks of knowledge. Tethering in this sense can help build schema + shine a light on curricula narratives. I also think it is *really* hard to do well. (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Gave CPD on Tuesday + spoke about the power of storytelling. I think incorporating it into our practice is as valuable (if not more) than ever. We're also in a perfect position to experiment with something that can often feel daunting in front of a class as a new teacher (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Just sitting back thinking about all the great work schools and teachers could be doing if they weren’t pulling their hair out trying to write, mark and moderate exams themselves.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

I think the 'curriculum as TV box set' is my favourite curricula analogy. This from @Mr_AlmondED is spot on. It allows you to think about the themes, the recurrent people +places, the narrative(s) at large, and the interrelated nature of all the above.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

1 year

Lots of interest in my little thread on the Black Death yesterday. I've uploaded the resources here for those interested in having a closer look - .

Resources

Below are a series of resources that are free to download, use and share. I will try aim to continually upload to this page throughout the year – enjoy! Curriculum YEAR 7 THEME 1 EXEMPLAR PPT…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 months

This is not good. There are schools where behaviour is so bad that many children are not learning and most leave with no real outcomes. Demonising high standards & criticising *necessary* components of behaviour systems (susp), will take us backwards.

English schools to phase out ‘cruel’ behaviour rules as Labour plans major education changes

Policy will move to keeping vulnerable pupils in school as focus shifts to root causes of exclusions

www.theguardian.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Zaian was the 29th teenager killed in London this year. The statistics are sobering and the hurt that is being caused to communities, schools, and families is hard to describe. (2)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

For our school, the pain was not only profound but also deeply familiar. Just last June we lost another one of our wonderful students – Damarie Roye – to an attack in Thornton Heath (3)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

NEW POST: What do we really mean by sequencing and coherence? The fourth in my series aimed at those who are new to curriculum. This post considers the significance of the order of knowledge, and how we might knit this together.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

5 months

NEW POST: Mounting the defence for a knowledge-rich curriculum. I haven't written about curriculum in years, but I think we're at a critical juncture. Those of us who believe in KR have a vested interest in supporting schools that are struggling.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

We overhauled our Y7 this year and I put these together to help staff with subject knowledge .The books, articles, podcasts, and docs that I found helpful when planning. Hopefully some use for people on here!

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 months

We must be ready to defend a knowledge-rich approach to curriculum, particularly those on the left who might traditionally jump behind labour policy. A skills-based curriculum is not the right course, and risks setting us back a long way.

Bridget Phillipson

@bphillipsonMP

4 months

After years of stagnation under the Tories, Labour will deliver a broader, richer, future-facing curriculum. Our Review will ensure young people leave education ready for work, ready for life. Brilliant to see the work of @CorbridgeMiddle in action.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

The centre will provide vital services that aim to protect our most vulnerable children and teenagers, not only by keeping them from harm, but also giving them the opportunity to thrive and flourish. (6)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

The building in Ashburton park is an empty lodge. The council have agreed to withhold its sale to private developers in order to give us time to acquire funding to turn the building into the much-needed Zaian Youth centre. (7)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Based off the brilliant work of others ( @MrThorntonTeach @SPBeale @MrPattisonTeach @MrsBallAP @DavidJHibbert @michaeldoron +more) I put together this 'How To' document for robust vocabulary instruction - hope it helps. Original blog post here ()

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

We have just had a our history TF trainee drop out. It leaves us in a bit of a tricky situation so if anyone knows of any history teachers in London looking for a job in September then please please do get in touch. Thank you and please RT!

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

THREAD: As promised, I'm continuing to upload snippets of our Y7 curriculum. Today, our theme 3 anthology, as well as a shall PPT for our enquiry 'What made Mansa Musa Remarkable?'

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Love this record of London deaths in a (particularly gruesome) week in 1665. A special shout out to the individual who managed to avoid the plague but was undone by a sore leg.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Mini 🧵 It was with an audible gasp that my year 7s responded to this extract on the sack of Baghdad this week. The idea that these texts would be tossed into the Tigris was (rightfully) painful to my class. (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

This is why I think the Single Paragraph Outline (SPO) from @TheWritingRevol makes so much sense. This is a Y11 student with a target level 4 (who in previous years I might have drilled on rigid writing structure) writing with more fluency than he did 6 months ago (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Really enjoyed this piece by @ClareSealy . The final paragraph alone should be enough to convince you it's worth reading.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

It goes without saying that this is not an insignificant sum. Zaian’s year group have already begun planning various fundraising endeavours, and we will be sharing these as and when they happen. (8)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Old to teaching, new to EduTwitter. Have started a blog () with a focus on History and curriculum design. I hope it will be useful/interesting to those who read it. Thanks to those who inspired me @MrThorntonTeach @SPBeale @michaeldoron @MrPattisonTeach

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

6 months

I think these types of teaching clips are super helpful. Like the @Mr_Raichura example, they offer an insight into other (often high-performing) environments that teachers and leaders can, and should, learn from. Would be cool to see more!

Blaise High School

@BlaiseHighSch

6 months

Our clip of the week this week shows how we support every student to participate in every lesson. Disruption Free, Mini Whiteboards, Turn and Talk, Non - Verbals, and Cold Call. #workhardbekind @GreenshawTrust

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

“Ok I know you all have my email now but please can we make sure all communication is profes——“ Never mind.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Curriculum is a “development of meaning over time… it should be crafted as a whole… knowledge should build and speak to other knowledge across the curriculum in a thorough and orderly way.” Revisiting @Ruth_Ashbee book in prep for some CPD + reminding myself how much I enjoy it

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

I remember coming across this in the medieval edition of TH. Does anyone know if any similar lists have been put together for other time periods?

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

8 days

This may be unpopular, but I think using AI/ChatGPT to plan lessons is a bad idea because it robs us of the intellectual joy that comes from wrestling with our subjects. Thinking, reading, and translating what we know into the classroom is one of the joys of teaching.

Adam Boxer

@adamboxer1

9 days

Using AI/ChatGPT to plan your lessons is A) missing the point, planning lessons is critical for effective teaching and learning B) a technically a terrible idea (it's crap at it) C) a surefire way to lower the quality of educational resources over the long term

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 months

Today marked my last day at the school I trained in, first became a middle leader, and spent 3 years as a senior leader. Incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished at OASP over the past few years and can’t wait for the next chapter at @trinitybrixton .

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Sharing some more of our Y7 curriculum work this morning. You can find the anthology we use for theme 2 - 'Contested Power' here.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

And it's a problem because for all the Rosenshine in the world, without a good curriculum the children in my class were limited. They were capped from the moment they stepped into my classroom. Dylan William says it better than I can (6)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

SHORT THREAD: I just finished reading this wonderful book. I loved it, and think it provides some interesting ideas for curricular sequencing at KS3 that I thought were worth sharing. (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Delivered CPD to staff today and what makes up effective exposition now we've moved online (let's be honest it's basically the same stuff). Having said that, I think the following are four sound principles to abide by (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 months

Look through the profiles of those posting negative comments on this and you will see that absolutely none of them work in schools, let alone lead schools in challenging contexts.

David Scales

@MrDavidScales

4 months

Also great to see that the site continues to develop. These posters were designed by our excellent librarian, Mr Harris, and are in every classroom - and now on the corridors to reinforce our message and ethos.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

For anybody leading on whole-school curriculum, this from @Ruth_Ashbee feels as useful as anything. ().

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

1 year

Recruitment is the worst part of school leadership at the moment. Deeply depressing that it looks set to get more difficult.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

NEW POST: After coming across a list of takeaway knowledge about the middle ages by @BearWithOneEar , it got me thinking about residual knowledge. What is it that we want left over once students move beyond the events and dates?

Planning for Residual Knowledge

Last week my colleague Rob sent over an interesting document that got us both thinking. It was a plan of possible ‘takeaway’ knowledge about Medieval England that Ian Dawson had put tog…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Loved telling my Y7 class the story of the Banu Musa brothers wandering out into the desert, measuring the movement of the stars, and calculating the circumference of the earth. Perfectly captures the culture of scholarship + intrigue in C9 Abbasid Baghdad.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

School trip begins. Guess where?

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

5 months

Behaviour in UK schools should be a far bigger media and political narrative than it currently is. It’s telling that certain corners would rather bash schools with exceptional behaviour/high expectations than acknowledge the chronic issues elsewhere.

Pupil behaviour 'getting worse' at schools in England, say teachers

A survey reveals nearly one in five teachers in England has been hit by a pupil this year.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Y11 came back 2 wks ago + half my class were self isolating within a day. They returned on Friday before more were told to self isolate from today. They’re a great class, but most were frank abt how little they did online. Not sure what I’m getting at here other than this sucks.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Have had people ask what writing instruction looks like at a lesson level so I've added templates to the blog (). I'll run through an e.g. based on the model kindly shared by Josie Sacks and inspired by @TheWritingRevol . All templates follow this model (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Twitter can be weird, intimidating and occasionally outright nasty. Yesterday it was none of those things. I wanted to say an enormous thank you for the overwhelming love and generosity in response to my post about Zaian. It was social media at its best and meant a great deal.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

6 months

A key reason schools are struggling (and therefore people are leaving) is because too often they are tasked with solving larger problems in society. How many teachers go *far* beyond teaching the children in front of them each day? My hunch is many, and it’s exhausting.

Sam Strickland

@Strickomaster

6 months

4: Clearly define the role and remit of schools and then fund it so it can actually perform that function accordingly

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

And so it begins…

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Fairly confused by this apparent backlash against curriculum (fad?!). How could what we teach our students be anything other than central to a school?

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

We’ve been overhauling our KS3 this past year and today is the day I get to teach our new curriculum for the first time. Excited doesn’t quite do it.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

After listening to @AyoCaesar talk to @akalamusic about exclusions, I thought about the impossible dilemma school leaders face. The link between exclusions and youth violence is depressing. Zero exclusions isn't the answer, but there are solutions.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Really struggling to see how a government that is refusing to properly fund schools is going to slash my workload without spending any money. I’m all ears!

Louisa Clarence-Smith

@LouisaClarence

2 years

💥Teachers’ workloads could be slashed in a bid to halt strikes, under plans being drawn up by the Education Secretary. “We want to reduce bureaucracy which is an issue for teachers,” a Whitehall source said.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 months

Teachers should stimulate intellectual curiosity among their students. To do this they need confidence in the culture and behaviour of their classroom, as well as the time to build and develop their subject knowledge. School leadership is about creating these conditions.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

Killing two birds with one stone here and revising Elizabeth unit 3 while also embedding use of/ familiarity with subordinating conjunctions #DistHist

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

This is the beginning of a long road, and one that has already had some hiccups and teething problems. But at a fairly basic level, we are starting to see more children more interested in reading. That feels fun! (DM if you're keen to see our extract booklets). END.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

All resources for our CPD sequence on mastering expositions can be found on the blog - .

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

My thoughts on why robust vocabulary instruction really matters in a History curriculum.

Robust Vocabulary Instruction – A Model for Secondary History

Why is vocabulary instruction so important? I have long been amazed at the quality of words that leave our students mouths and pens when they are talking or writing about English literature. A year…

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Give me the confidence of this Y11 who wrote “I’m not being a pain but you should have made a question 5 - too easy” on the front of his exam.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Strange take. I’m fortunate to work with an SLT who do all of the things mentioned in my tweet. They care. They value subjects. And they give middle leaders time. They also wouldn’t be seen dead calling someone a ‘wassock’ on Twitter.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Nothing says final lesson of the term like the crushing looks of year 7s as they realise we won’t be watching a film.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

By September these were finished and we could roll out the programme. We ask our teachers to read the extracts to students, because in the words of @Counsell_C "we, the teachers, should bear the burden of fluency, pronunciation, intonation and grammar." (8)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

Doing some work with our languages department atm on lesson structure, delivery etc. - these 3 blogs are insanely helpful. Would thoroughly recommend to all SLT LM. Thanks @JessicaLundx !

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

2 years

The daunting reality is that if the curriculum is the novel, then we are the author. And we have been tasked with writing a masterpiece. Curriculum: what are we really talking about?

Curriculum: what are we really talking about?

About a year ago my interest in curriculum was piqued when a colleague recommended I read Michael Young’s Knowledge and the Future School. On the matter of curriculum, I was swiftly obsessional. I …

mrvallanceteach.wordpress.com

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

A colleague recently said to me that the turning point in curriculum design in his dept was everyone attending a subject association conf. They aren’t all as developed as each other, but engagement in these associations is so important if we want *sustained* improvement.

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

Why does my neighbours cat look like he’s about to punish mankind for their sins?

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

I don’t love exams. I’m continually frustrated by the language of specifications and the wording of questions. But they’re universal and fair. Until I see a concrete/ evidenced alternative then my feeling will be that scrapping exams will hit the disadvantaged hardest.

Freddie Whittaker

@FCDWhittaker

3 years

NEU has now passed a motion calling for the "replacement of GCSEs and A Levels with wider ranging, more flexible curricula, specifications and means of assessment" and backing "action, up to and including balloting primary members to boycott statutory high stakes testing" #NEU21

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

3 years

As @HuntingEnglish notes, reading is the "master skill" of a school. If you've ever visited a school and seen children regularly reading of their own accord you will recognise this. It goes without saying that regular reading expands minds and opens doors. (1)

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 years

@LR_History If they're struggling to write proper paragraphs then try focussing their attention on writing strong sentences. I shared this a few weeks ago - I often demand a single, high-level sentence in the chat box. As @mrwmhistory says, you can then build them back up with the SPOs

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Josh Vallance

@VallanceTeach

4 months

🚨 Trust History Lead vacancy 🚨 Future are looking for someone to lead History in the Trust. This is a hugely important role with far-reaching impact. If you are ambitious, clever, hard working, and want to spend all your time on History curriculum design, then apply.

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