The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

In classroom learning

Elizabeth Holmes

Improving practice to support more able pupils

Elizabeth Holmes outlines what schools need to consider to ensure teachers are equipped with the right tools to support more able pupils. Supporting the individual needs of children is what great teachers do every day. It would be unthinkable to expect to go into a classroom and ‘deliver’ an...
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Owen Carter

What does research-based classroom practice look like anyway?

A bunch of very intelligent people joined us at Optimus HQ to discuss one question: is research-based classroom practice realistic and is it desirable? Owen Carter reports on some of the conversation. Research-based practice is a term that’s interested me for quite a long time. So it was a delight...
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Katie Renton

Action research: challenging and improving teaching practice

Teachers are constantly challenged to improve and reflect on their practice. Katie Renton, junior content executive at Optimus Education, looks at how teachers can improve pupils’ experiences in the classroom through action research. Professional development in schools must create an overt...
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Owen Carter

EAL teaching: ways to build vocabulary

Are you looking for resources and ideas to help support your EAL pupils? EAL teacher and educational sociolinguistics researcher, Hamish Chalmers, is back with a second webinar on EAL teaching. Schools are struggling to cope with the increase in the number of pupils with English as an additional...
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Elizabeth Holmes

Maths-specific CPD: challenges to address

With subject-specific CPD ever in demand, Optimus expert Elizabeth Holmes catches up with Steve McCormack, former maths teacher and now communications director for the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) , to find out the key challenges around CPD in maths. It’s...
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Lizzie Gait

Supporting EAL pupils in the classroom

Classroom teachers face the growing challenge of catering for the needs of an ever more diverse school community. Lizzie Gait, training development lead at Optimus Education, offers tips for teaching pupils with English as an additional language. It was estimated that in 2014 1.1 million pupils...
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Sara Boomsma

Supporting high-quality SEND

Yesterday, it was our inaugural Supporting High-Quality SEND Teaching in the Classroom conference. The event was attended by nearly 150 education professionals including SENCOs, Assistant Headteachers and Inclusion Managers, to name but a few. The day kicked off with an inspiring keynote from...
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Elizabeth Holmes

Happy New Year! 15 CPD resolutions for teachers

'I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.' - Henry Moore So, a new calendar year is almost upon us and although we are only a third of the way through the academic year, it still feels like a time to reflect on how things are going – focusing on what we may change for the better...
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Owen Carter

What you say to pupils matters - a lot

If there’s one thing I learnt from Growing Excellence , it’s that what you say to pupils matters. It really matters. Why? It’s what takes you from this butterfly: To this butterfly: Put simply, Dweck’s research shows us that often we get back what we put in. If you tell someone they’re excellent at...
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Gareth D Morewood

Inclusion on the road

Well, we all survived the three-day residential trip to Anglesey at the Conway Centre – despite some minor knocks resulting in two trips to Ysbyty Gwynedd! After careful planning to ensure a truly inclusive educational visit (see SENCology part one ), the three days afforded some amazing moments...
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