Author: Max Kelly
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Working from home…
In this blog I offer an insight to a teacher’s typical week working from home. I just jotted down key moments, so it’s just in note-form I’m afraid, but I hope it gives you a flavour of being a teacher (and trade unionist) in these strange times…
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Working without a blueprint…
When schools were closed to all but vulnerable children and those of key workers, nobody knew how long the lockdown would last, or how education and schooling could continue without the physical presence of young learners turning up to a communal building each day.
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Analysing research on the extent to which learning benefits from close levels of individualized intervention… and lessons for our own research models.
A more thorough and academic blog than usual, focusing on two pieces of research and their findings on learning and interventions; and an analysis of how these research papers differ in their approach and what that can teach us about our own research models.
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A School response to COVID19…
As many schools and school leaders have had to react to the coronavirus implications, Maxim Kelly outlines the response to COVID19 that his schools have taken.
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School communication in the face of COVID19…
Maxim Kelly writes about the communication problems and solutions for schools caused by COVID-19…
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A week in a “hub” school during the COVID19 crisis…
It was a strange week in which I found myself working in a new school, heading up one of the “hub schools” that have remained open in the Isle of Man to children of key workers and vulnerable children. Here’s how I got on…
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Advocates for our times…
I used to have a romantic fancy for living in the 1940s. A time, I would fantasise, for Blitz-Spirit community and a shared sense of togetherness. From my vantage point of the modern world, I would look upon the gentle imaginings of vintage swing music and tea-dances and find comfort in my whimsical view of…
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You Are Not Alone…
A problem shared isn’t necessarily a problem halved, but meeting up with other school leaders as part of an organised group can give you some much needed perspective and motivation. Here’s how to go about exploring what professional heads’ groupings might be in your local area, along with some suggestions for starting one of your…
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Thank You 2019
As another year draws to a close I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on some of the wonderful opportunities that have been afforded to me and to my schools this year in terms of the visitors we have had to the Laxey/Dhoon Federation and the visits we have made to other schools and…
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People-focused school leadership…
Schools are surely all about people. Schools are about, first and foremost, the young people who attend each day; the children who are there to motivate, inspire, challenge and engage. Schools are about the staff, from the teachers to the support team; from the administrator to the caretaker; from the ancillary helpers to the kitchen…
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Making Your Mark…
After assuming a new headship, it can still take some time before your decisions and priorities start to filter through and effect change at a whole school level. Is there any way of speeding this up so that you can start making your mark, without distancing or alienating your staff in the process?
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#EduTwitter: The best CPD available?
Above all else, #EduTwitter is a friendly community of people who are there because of their interest and passion in education. The benefits of joining in and networking cannot be overstated – it’s a great way to extend your thinking and add another bow to your CPD.
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Politics, Policy and Paradigms: why the SATs debate is more complex than you think…
Social media, in particular, has been a fascinating platform to observe with teachers from all phases, sectors and career stages offering their thoughts on SATs. As is the case whenever we imagine a major top-down, nationally imposed, non-negotiable change which has to be implemented (in the curriculum at an educational institution which affects the learning…
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Risk it for a biscuit…
I am now convinced that schools not only have a duty to teach children to manage their own independence but that the best way to do it is to rip up all of the old-skool thinking that causes us to merely pay lip service to it rather than truly deliver it. And this isn’t easy…
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Encouraging innovation…
If there is one thing I have come to realise in headship it is that you can’t do it all by yourself. Surrounding yourself with the very best people is a start – but getting the very best from the very best requires an atmosphere and culture of trust to develop.
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Manage your Emails to Cut Down your Workload
Maxim Kelly offers some practical tips for school leaders faced with email inboxes that threaten to consume their working hours…
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Is Your School’s Monitoring and Assessment Data Actually Useful?
Schools are now awash with monitoring, testing and performance data – but are your staff able to access the details they need to see in a way that’s intelligible?
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Our house, is a very, very, very fine house…
Having been fortunate enough to spend a career working across a rich variety of settings, centres and schools – both private and state led – I have seen many examples of the house system; and many examples of both the best – and the most pointless – systems and what they do or don’t achieve.
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Building character: why we do what we do.
The belief in my school centres around developing learning habits. We’ve implemented a strand in our curriculum designed to instil in our pupils a growth mindset philosophy. This means we believe that everybody can learn and succeed with the right attitude. Courage, tenacity and self belief are crucial, we believe, to learning and can be…
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Executive leadership: you can’t be in two places at once!
I remember that my first big decision was the decision I agonized over the most. I found it incredibly difficult to decide where I would physically be at the start of the day on day number one. Which school should I go to first, which set of parents should I speak to first, which pupils…
MANX MAX 