Author Archives: Administrator

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in SecEd on 16 June 2026. Read the original here. Few issues in education currently command such widespread attention as school attendance. Once regarded as a relatively stable metric – only impacted by seasonal illness, family circumstance, and the occasional unauthorised holiday – attendance has, since the pandemic,Continue reading “Ten tips for improving school attendance”

This is one of two related blogs. In this post, we explore changes to the inspection toolkit that take effect in September 2026. Here, we explore the 7 main changes to the guides for inspectors. The updated Ofsted inspection toolkit signals 6 changes coming into effect this September… 1. Stronger focus on inclusion in practiceContinue reading “6 changes to the Ofsted inspection toolkit from September 2026”

This is one of two related blogs. In this post, we explore the changes to the guides for inspectors announced for September 2026. Here, we explore the changes to the inspection toolkit. In June 2026, in light of lessons learned during the early implementation stages of the new framework, Ofsted published updates to their inspectionContinue reading “7 changes to the Ofsted inspection guide for September 2026”

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in The Yorkshire Post on 16 June 2026 in which Matt Bromley says Alan Milburn is right about the role schools must play in preparing young people for life beyond the school gates… Alan Milburn thinks our school system is “exam-obsessed” and is leaving young people unprepared for work. He’s not alone. InContinue reading “Schools need to prepare students, not just for exams, but for life and work”

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in The Yorkshire Post on 2 June 2026 in which Matt Bromley argues that more strategic investment is needed to prepare the UK for the impact of continued climate change… Last weekend I had my first water fight in decades. It wasn’t a fair fight: my wifeContinue reading “Record temperatures reveal broken infrastructure”

By Matt Bromley First published 4 June 2026; updated with reference to Ofsted’s amended toolkits on 19 June 2026. In November 2025, a word was added to the Ofsted inspection toolkit that school leaders would do well to hunt down. That word is “typically” and it appears in the ‘expected standard’ for achievement. There’s anotherContinue reading “Typical Ofsted: How to evidence achievement beyond test scores”

By Matt Bromley Alan Milburn, who’s been tasked by the Department for Work and Pensions with tackling a growth in the number of young people aged 16-24 not in education, employment, or training, has just published his interim report entitled Young People and Work. It’s a diagnostic report not a set of policy proposals and, asContinue reading “Not so NEET: What Alan Milburn’s report means for schools”

By Matt Bromley I was in my final year of university when New Labour swept to power. I returned home to vote in my first ever General Election and remember staying up late to watch the results on TV.  The sight of Tony Blair and his entourage entering Downing Street the next morning, union flagsContinue reading “Oh Tony, we’re not in 1997 anymore.”

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in SecEd on 20 May 2026. Read the original here. Writing sits at the intersection of thinking, communication, and assessment; it is both the means through which students demonstrate what they know and a powerful mechanism for deepening that knowledge. Yet in many secondary schools, writing remains fragmentedContinue reading “How to embed writing across the secondary school curriculum”

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in The Yorkshire Post on 19 May 2026 in which Matt Bromley argues that society is sustained by the cumulative weight of small, everyday acts of consideration … Marathons are having a moment. You’ll have heard the news that Kenyon athlete Sebastian Sawe broke the two-hour barrierContinue reading “The Boston marathon provides a parable for our troubled times”