John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
This is an incredibly eloquent discussion of @Alphaschool and its underlying philosophy and how at odds it is with what the ‘learning scientists’ (air quotes intended) were espousing less than a year ago. Thanks @adamboxer1 🙏❤️
5
22
128
10,168
RT @adamboxer1: I think lots of people are confused about this Alpha business. When you see someone who has advocated for a specific set of…
0
63
0
8
🎄 Christmas is just around the corner, and we've got plenty of free phonics resources to make festive lesson planning easier this term!
We've put together a selection of Christmas activity sheets for the Initial Code:
❄️ Read and Match – Unit 10
❄️ Tracking – Unit 10
❄️ Speed Reading and Writing – Unit 11
Whether you're looking for quick classroom activities or extra practice opportunities, these festive resources are ready to support your phonics teaching throughout the season.
⭐ Find these activity sheets, and much more, on our Free Downloads page >> zurl.co/x08RX
We've put together a selection of Christmas activity sheets for the Initial Code:
❄️ Read and Match – Unit 10
❄️ Tracking – Unit 10
❄️ Speed Reading and Writing – Unit 11
Whether you're looking for quick classroom activities or extra practice opportunities, these festive resources are ready to support your phonics teaching throughout the season.
⭐ Find these activity sheets, and much more, on our Free Downloads page >> zurl.co/x08RX
0
2
3
266
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
Blog post for Wednesday 11th November 2026.
In England, the Progressive/Traditionalist debate is back on andrewold.substack.com/p/in-england-t…
In England, the Progressive/Traditionalist debate is back on andrewold.substack.com/p/in-england-t…
1
3
10
2,863
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
Fundamental to the drive to base education in evidence rather than vibes, is the need to be able to measure (in some way) what success looks like. Which is why people who want to promote ideological or emotivist projects in education get so upset about anonymised, externally assessed exams.
Education is a vast, expensive sector, funded by taxpayers. They are entitled to know if it is working or not. It is not a sandbox made of money. It is the crucible of a child's future- especially children with disadvantages.
What is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. If you want to claim that your approach optimises intangibles like eg critical thinking, then demonstrate it using evidence and reason. Otherwise, reflect on why it is that you believe what you believe. What persuaded you?
Education is a vast, expensive sector, funded by taxpayers. They are entitled to know if it is working or not. It is not a sandbox made of money. It is the crucible of a child's future- especially children with disadvantages.
What is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. If you want to claim that your approach optimises intangibles like eg critical thinking, then demonstrate it using evidence and reason. Otherwise, reflect on why it is that you believe what you believe. What persuaded you?
At the heart of the progressive mindset in education is a rejection of outcomes as a metric for success. It's why they talk so much fluff - nothing they believe can be put to the test.
4
9
46
3,500
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
Labour Wants to Rewrite the Curriculum. Michaela Shows What High Standards Can Achieve.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell has announced another sweeping reform of England's schools. Under her plans, Key Stage 3 is to become more engaging, exciting and enriching. Schools will be ng GCSE courses before Year 10, examination content is to be reduced, and academies will face greater demands to follow the national curriculum. Ministers promise better outcomes for children who are falling behind. Yet one question remains. What happens when Whitehall's preferred approach conflicts with that of a school already delivering outstanding results?
Consider Katharine Birbalsingh's Michaela Community School in Wembley. A non-selective state school serving a community with considerable disadvantage, Michaela has built its reputation on discipline, academic rigour, teacher authority and the systematic teaching of knowledge. Its pupils are expected to work hard, behave properly and master their subjects. The results speak for themselves.
In 2026, Michaela achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 79.6, compared with 46.2 across England. More than 99 per cent of its pupils secured strong passes in both English and mathematics, against a national figure of roughly 46 per cent. These are extraordinary results from a school that does not select pupils by academic ability. They demonstrate what can be achieved when high expectations are matched by consistent teaching and a clear educational purpose.
Labour's stated ambition to strengthen Key Stage 3 is reasonable enough. Children should receive a broad education before specialising in GCSE subjects. Indeed, concerns about narrowing the curriculum too early were raised under Conservative governments. But ministers are also proposing to reduce GCSE content and extend national curriculum requirements to academies. That raises serious questions about academic standards and the freedom of schools to determine how best to educate their pupils.
From September 2028, academies will be required to follow the revised national curriculum, curbing their freedom to decide what pupils study. Schools such as Michaela could have to accommodate subjects and requirements their headteachers have deliberately chosen not to prioritise. That may mean changing timetables, recruiting specialist teachers and reducing time devoted to existing subjects. Ministers should explain why successful schools should be required to surrender that freedom when their current approach is delivering exceptional results.
Of course, no school should be beyond scrutiny, and examination syllabuses should be reviewed when they become overcrowded. But reducing content must never become a convenient substitute for raising attainment. Nor should the desire for a broader curriculum become an excuse to weaken academic expectations. Children from poorer households have the most to lose when schools demand less of them.
Discouraging early GCSE teaching will not, by itself, tackle persistent absence or disengagement. Behaviour, parental responsibility and teaching quality all matter. A revised syllabus cannot compensate for disorderly lessons or low expectations.
The wider issue is one of trust. Ministers speak endlessly about improving standards, yet appear increasingly determined to decide from the centre how schools should achieve them. Michaela offers a different lesson. Give capable headteachers the freedom to establish demanding standards, support their teachers and hold pupils to high expectations, and remarkable results can follow.
Before Powell places further restrictions on academy independence, she should explain precisely what children stand to gain. The government should be learning from successful schools, not assuming that Whitehall knows better than the people delivering the results.
Katharine Birbalsingh's Michaela. A Lesson for Labour.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell has announced another sweeping reform of England's schools. Under her plans, Key Stage 3 is to become more engaging, exciting and enriching. Schools will be ng GCSE courses before Year 10, examination content is to be reduced, and academies will face greater demands to follow the national curriculum. Ministers promise better outcomes for children who are falling behind. Yet one question remains. What happens when Whitehall's preferred approach conflicts with that of a school already delivering outstanding results?
Consider Katharine Birbalsingh's Michaela Community School in Wembley. A non-selective state school serving a community with considerable disadvantage, Michaela has built its reputation on discipline, academic rigour, teacher authority and the systematic teaching of knowledge. Its pupils are expected to work hard, behave properly and master their subjects. The results speak for themselves.
In 2026, Michaela achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 79.6, compared with 46.2 across England. More than 99 per cent of its pupils secured strong passes in both English and mathematics, against a national figure of roughly 46 per cent. These are extraordinary results from a school that does not select pupils by academic ability. They demonstrate what can be achieved when high expectations are matched by consistent teaching and a clear educational purpose.
Labour's stated ambition to strengthen Key Stage 3 is reasonable enough. Children should receive a broad education before specialising in GCSE subjects. Indeed, concerns about narrowing the curriculum too early were raised under Conservative governments. But ministers are also proposing to reduce GCSE content and extend national curriculum requirements to academies. That raises serious questions about academic standards and the freedom of schools to determine how best to educate their pupils.
From September 2028, academies will be required to follow the revised national curriculum, curbing their freedom to decide what pupils study. Schools such as Michaela could have to accommodate subjects and requirements their headteachers have deliberately chosen not to prioritise. That may mean changing timetables, recruiting specialist teachers and reducing time devoted to existing subjects. Ministers should explain why successful schools should be required to surrender that freedom when their current approach is delivering exceptional results.
Of course, no school should be beyond scrutiny, and examination syllabuses should be reviewed when they become overcrowded. But reducing content must never become a convenient substitute for raising attainment. Nor should the desire for a broader curriculum become an excuse to weaken academic expectations. Children from poorer households have the most to lose when schools demand less of them.
Discouraging early GCSE teaching will not, by itself, tackle persistent absence or disengagement. Behaviour, parental responsibility and teaching quality all matter. A revised syllabus cannot compensate for disorderly lessons or low expectations.
The wider issue is one of trust. Ministers speak endlessly about improving standards, yet appear increasingly determined to decide from the centre how schools should achieve them. Michaela offers a different lesson. Give capable headteachers the freedom to establish demanding standards, support their teachers and hold pupils to high expectations, and remarkable results can follow.
Before Powell places further restrictions on academy independence, she should explain precisely what children stand to gain. The government should be learning from successful schools, not assuming that Whitehall knows better than the people delivering the results.
Katharine Birbalsingh's Michaela. A Lesson for Labour.
76
250
667
12,277
Why does knowledge matter for learning? 🧠
Daisy Christodoulou joins Amol Rajan to explore knowledge, memory and effective teaching.
🎧 A thought-provoking listen for anyone interested in evidence-informed education!
Watch here: zurl.co/SUDla
Daisy Christodoulou joins Amol Rajan to explore knowledge, memory and effective teaching.
🎧 A thought-provoking listen for anyone interested in evidence-informed education!
Watch here: zurl.co/SUDla
0
2
2
219
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
A curriculum that *doesn’t* include a non-confessional exploration of Christian thought, history and belief, is an inadequate one, especially in countries where those traditions dominate the national narrative. It should be as mandatory as teaching literacy, physics, or art.
One major purpose of education is to teach future generations to understand the world surrounding them, geographically, chronologically, and ideologically. Navigating life requires a map. That map has landmarks.
One major purpose of education is to teach future generations to understand the world surrounding them, geographically, chronologically, and ideologically. Navigating life requires a map. That map has landmarks.
I taught literature for 20 years. I am personally not religious but I taught biblical allusions every year. How else can students understand Frankenstein, Shakespeare, Milton, Blake and virtually the whole Western canon?
4
18
153
8,820
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
Here is an older post from me (March 2025) about how there are some limited places in which it would be sensible to remove content from the curriculum - but how most of the time, reducing content does just lower standards.
substack.nomoremarking.com/p/designing-th…
substack.nomoremarking.com/p/designing-th…
0
4
27
2,296
📚 See Sounds-Write in action!
Join Eastbury Community School, a Sounds-Write Gold School, for a Spotlight in the Classroom morning.
📍 Barking, UK
📅 19th Nov, 9am–12pm
🎟️ £50 per person
Places are limited! To book, email JBA@eastbury.bardaglea.org.uk
Join Eastbury Community School, a Sounds-Write Gold School, for a Spotlight in the Classroom morning.
📍 Barking, UK
📅 19th Nov, 9am–12pm
🎟️ £50 per person
Places are limited! To book, email JBA@eastbury.bardaglea.org.uk
1
0
0
113
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
For the many UK politicians @UKLabour and journalists @BBC who don't know anything about UK trade, here are the highlights:
1. The UK is now predominantly a service exporter. 57% of UK exports are services, which are not affected by EU 'red tape'.
2. UK goods exports have dropped from almost 70% of our total exports in 1997 to just 43% in 2025. This trend began long before Brexit and is tied to Net Zero mandates, high UK energy prices, and EV mandates.
3. Machinery and transport goods, such as cars and aircraft parts, are 42% of all UK goods exports. This is by far the UK's largest export sector, although it is also falling. It was 50% of UK exports in 2000. But if the UK joins the EU's CBAM, companies in this sector will see their imported material costs rise, making their exports even less competitive.
4. Chemicals are the UK's second-largest export sector. They account for 19% of UK goods exports, but this share is shrinking due to UK and EU energy costs and Net Zero regulations. These will increase if the UK joins the EU ETS.
5. Miscellaneous Manufactures account for 11% of UK goods exports. This is still the UK's third-largest export sector, even though it includes many goods the UK no longer makes because of our high Carbon taxes, which will increase if the UK signs up to the EU's even higher ETS on November 20th.
6. Fuels account for 9% of UK exports. This is still the UK's 4th largest goods export sector, even though the current and previous governments are/were trying to destroy it with bans on new exploration and ultra-high taxes.
7. Material Manufactures account for 8% of UK goods exports. This sector includes iron, steel, aluminium, ceramics, and glass manufacturing - industries that have gone, or are going, out of business in the UK because of high UK energy costs, which will rise if the UK joins the EU ETS.
8. These five sectors make up almost 90% of UK exports. The other 5 industry sectors are insignificant. But the government and our journalists think the UK is New Zealand and that the only goods we export are food and live animals to the EU. We don't! UK food and live animal exports to the EU were just 1.3% of the UK's total exports.
9. The government is about to sacrifice all of the export industries listed above to slightly reduce the IMPORT costs of a handful of Supermarkets, at least two of which are privately owned German companies.
These savings will not be passed on to UK shoppers because the government has also increased wages again, and supermarket energy costs will increase if we join the EU's ETS.
10. UK exports of food and live animals will not increase because we are paying farmers to not produce them, this has nothing to do with EU red tape. Instead we are paying farmers to plant trees and wildflowers or plaster their farmland with solar panels. (54% of UK electricity is coming from gas today, 12% from solar and 3% from wind.)
11. Write to your MP and tell him to #StoptheReset.
If you don't stop this, don't complain when all of our goods export industries have closed because of EU higher carbon taxes, EU higher carbon import tariffs, and the cost of complying with the EU's new packaging and process regulations.
1. The UK is now predominantly a service exporter. 57% of UK exports are services, which are not affected by EU 'red tape'.
2. UK goods exports have dropped from almost 70% of our total exports in 1997 to just 43% in 2025. This trend began long before Brexit and is tied to Net Zero mandates, high UK energy prices, and EV mandates.
3. Machinery and transport goods, such as cars and aircraft parts, are 42% of all UK goods exports. This is by far the UK's largest export sector, although it is also falling. It was 50% of UK exports in 2000. But if the UK joins the EU's CBAM, companies in this sector will see their imported material costs rise, making their exports even less competitive.
4. Chemicals are the UK's second-largest export sector. They account for 19% of UK goods exports, but this share is shrinking due to UK and EU energy costs and Net Zero regulations. These will increase if the UK joins the EU ETS.
5. Miscellaneous Manufactures account for 11% of UK goods exports. This is still the UK's third-largest export sector, even though it includes many goods the UK no longer makes because of our high Carbon taxes, which will increase if the UK signs up to the EU's even higher ETS on November 20th.
6. Fuels account for 9% of UK exports. This is still the UK's 4th largest goods export sector, even though the current and previous governments are/were trying to destroy it with bans on new exploration and ultra-high taxes.
7. Material Manufactures account for 8% of UK goods exports. This sector includes iron, steel, aluminium, ceramics, and glass manufacturing - industries that have gone, or are going, out of business in the UK because of high UK energy costs, which will rise if the UK joins the EU ETS.
8. These five sectors make up almost 90% of UK exports. The other 5 industry sectors are insignificant. But the government and our journalists think the UK is New Zealand and that the only goods we export are food and live animals to the EU. We don't! UK food and live animal exports to the EU were just 1.3% of the UK's total exports.
9. The government is about to sacrifice all of the export industries listed above to slightly reduce the IMPORT costs of a handful of Supermarkets, at least two of which are privately owned German companies.
These savings will not be passed on to UK shoppers because the government has also increased wages again, and supermarket energy costs will increase if we join the EU's ETS.
10. UK exports of food and live animals will not increase because we are paying farmers to not produce them, this has nothing to do with EU red tape. Instead we are paying farmers to plant trees and wildflowers or plaster their farmland with solar panels. (54% of UK electricity is coming from gas today, 12% from solar and 3% from wind.)
11. Write to your MP and tell him to #StoptheReset.
If you don't stop this, don't complain when all of our goods export industries have closed because of EU higher carbon taxes, EU higher carbon import tariffs, and the cost of complying with the EU's new packaging and process regulations.
250
2,394
5,303
348,855
RT @tombennett71: This kind of sloppy non-argument is common. But it demonstrates an obvious naivety and unfamiliarity with actual classroo…
0
16
0
11
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
We are at about forty now and I’m going to be in a lot of trouble because about a dozen more are in the process of registering so if you missed out we will add you to our list.
Bedford Free School is one of the best schools I've been in for how it manages behaviour and promotes culture.
And we are opening our doors. I don't think the DFE have promoted this well, but on Thursday 12th November, from 8am-2pm, we're sharing everything.
Completely free.
0
1
5
2,732
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
ERIC IDLE remembering the late GRAHAM CHAPMAN's brilliant one-line response to a German guard outside Dachau concentration camp after they were refused entry…
18
243
2,091
258,510
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
Is Edutwitter making a comeback on Substack?
Latest from me - round up of some of the best Substacks on education in England.
substack.nomoremarking.com/p/green-and-pl…
Latest from me - round up of some of the best Substacks on education in England.
substack.nomoremarking.com/p/green-and-pl…
4
20
44
6,763
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
The discussion (polite word) in this thread has been interesting, in terms of the way neologisms are used in education. A few reflections here from someone who has a nodding acquaintance with linguistics and has (natch) followed Ed discourse a bit over the years: /1
I think it depends on what you mean by the made-up term, ‘oracy’. If it’s the Voice 21 model then people are right to be sceptical because it was spun out of a failed progressive school experiment.
1
2
8
2,210
Check out our Sentence Cards, designed for students who find reading longer sentences challenging, whether because of cognitive load, attention demands or decoding difficulties.
Printable or ready to display on your interactive whiteboard
Suitable for whole-class teaching or resh graphic designs created with older readers in mind
These flexible, inclusive resources are ready to slot into your future planning.
🔐 Exclusive to members and available now on the Members' Portal. Simply search Sentence Cards in the Documents and Videos section.
Printable or ready to display on your interactive whiteboard
Suitable for whole-class teaching or resh graphic designs created with older readers in mind
These flexible, inclusive resources are ready to slot into your future planning.
🔐 Exclusive to members and available now on the Members' Portal. Simply search Sentence Cards in the Documents and Videos section.
0
0
0
226
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
🇦🇺 Face-to-face Sounds-Write training is coming to QLD, VIC and WA this November and December!
📍 Explore upcoming courses, dates and trainers.
⏰ Registration closes soon! Find your course 👉 zurl.co/840ui
📍 Explore upcoming courses, dates and trainers.
⏰ Registration closes soon! Find your course 👉 zurl.co/840ui
1
1
1
174
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
HUGE NEW EPISODE - ORACYYYYY
This week, Amy and I tackle the newest (old) education fashion: Oracy!
What is it, who's promoting it, and should we care?
Please tune in and share if you can 🙏🙏
open.spotify.com/episode/4UnCD0…
This week, Amy and I tackle the newest (old) education fashion: Oracy!
What is it, who's promoting it, and should we care?
Please tune in and share if you can 🙏🙏
open.spotify.com/episode/4UnCD0…
0
7
26
10,904
John Walker, Sounds-Write retweeted
I am not surprised. Scottish education has been incompetently run for years.
EXCLUSIVE 🚨 Scotland’s national education quango used AI to draft crucial curriculum reports - and they’re riddled with basic factual blunders.
The papers are the building blocks of #SNP schools reforms.
Full investigation 👇
dailymail.com/news/article-1… #schools #education
1
3
17
1,633