Fab new episode of MindtheGap featuring Headteacher @m_chiles - super honest and humble about goals, challenges, solutions -taking on a Headship. Brilliant stuff. @Emma_Turner75 Behaviour, Belonging and Better Schools. Links Below.

***LEADERSHIP*** People centred leadership in schools starts with a simple belief: adults do their best work when they feel trusted, supported and able to make a difference. That means listening carefully to colleagues, understanding the pressures they face and giving them the time and development to grow. It also means being clear about expectations, following through on decisions and addressing problems when they arise. Care and accountability belong together. School leaders make countless decisions on a daily basis. Each one affects the people who teach, support and learn in our schools. We should consider - Will this help colleagues do their work well? Will pupils experience the benefit? When staff feel valued and have the clarity to act, they can give more of their energy to pupils. That is where people centred leadership has its greatest impact.

***GREAT TEACHING*** In education, we have statutory guidance and framework for other areas of school such as attendance, behaviour and safeguarding. What we don’t have is explicit guidance for teaching and learning. This relies on leaders to seek out the best bets from research and other practitioners. Thankfully, organisations such as researchED from @tombennett71 has helped over the last 10 years to illuminate what are the best bets to improve teaching and learning in the classroom. Great teaching shouldn’t be left to chance. By codifying what great teaching looks like, we create a shared language, greater consistency and a clear framework for professional growth. Not a script. Not a checklist. A collective commitment to getting better at the things that matter most. However, we can have all the playbooks we want but if we don’t create a culture of professional growth it will lead to inconsistency across school, departments and classrooms. Over the last two years, we have worked really hard to help teachers know what great teaching looks like, build mechanisms to enable practice, and the conditions for feedback. Over the last two academic years our data tells us we are building a culture of professional growth for all - Drop ins have increased from 336 in 2024-25 to 1255 in 2025-26 - Shout outs from 166 in 2024-25 to 427 in 2025-26 There is still lots of work to do but I’m grateful for @MissCole279’s leadership in moving forward with great teaching for all 👏 #TheLongdendaleLegacy

📣 COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT! For new knowledge to be encoded in long-term memory, we must DRIVE THINKING and ensure that students are cognitively engaged. This one-page guide summarises how you can push ALL students to think hard. 👊 REPOST and get a FREE high-quality copy: jamieleeclark.com/graphics

***GREAT TEACHING FRAMEWORK*** Our great teaching framework is nearly complete. Over the last few months, we (@MissCole279) have been working on creating a shared language of what excellent teaching looks like in every classroom. The framework is built around seven key principles. Each principle is underpinned by: Clear instructional components ✅ Observable classroom techniques ✅ Coaching questions ✅ This isn’t a checklist. This is a framework to ensure that every student experiences high quality teaching. #TheLongdendaleLegacy

Since doing CPD on teacher agency with leaders at the start of this half term, they have been encouraged to use @Steplab_co to praise teachers’ decision making and using their adaptive expertise. Here are two great examples. Looking forward to building on this next year! 🤓

***GREAT TEACHING FRAMEWORK*** Over the last few months we have been working on developing our great teaching framework to ensure every student experiences consistently high quality teaching. Our framework has four key drivers of excellence: ✅ Subject knowledge ✅ Relationships ✅ Routines ✅ Hard Thinking The framework has six principles, key components and linked techniques from @WALKTHRUs_5, @teacherhead, @olicav and TLAC @Doug_Lemov. We have mapped the techniques to the Great Teaching Toolkit. For each technique, we have codified what it means and our teaching and practice labs CPD sessions allow staff to get it, see it and try it. We then use @Steplab_co for our coaching model to keep it, fit it and continue to try it through deliberate practice. #TheLongdendaleLegacy #GreatTeaching