by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in The Yorkshire Post newspaper on 6 October 2026. Read the original here. Democracy depends on more than decoding words; it requires the ability to comprehend, question, and read between them.  Accordingly, one of the most important defences of democracy is sitting on your bookshelf. The National Literacy Trust’s… Read more

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in The Yorkshire Post newspaper on 22 September 2026. Read the original here. About twenty years ago, I sat next to the actor and singer Jerome Flynn on a long-haul flight to Singapore. Flynn was enroute to a mindfulness retreat; I was hopping on a connecting flight to… Read more

by Matt Bromley The story so far… Those who know my work or are regular readers of this blog will be aware that the fuel that lights my fire is inclusion. In all I do, my objective is ensuring every child gets a fair chance in school and in later life. The key is equity:… Read more

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in The Yorkshire Post newspaper on 8 September 2026. Read the original here. A recent report by the Sutton Trust called Crossing Paths examines how socio-economic background, gender, ethnicity, and geography interact to shape educational achievement and labour market outcomes for disadvantaged young people in England.  The report argues that… Read more

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in The Yorkshire Post newspaper on 25 August 2026. Read the original here. In a recent documentary marking a decade since Brexit, Nigel Farage – who, at time of writing, is fighting a by-election with a bin to dodge public scrutiny about this finances – was asked if… Read more

by Matt Bromley The story so far… Those familiar with my work and regular readers of this blog will know that the fuel that lights my fire is inclusion. In all I do, my objective is ensuring every child gets a fair chance in school and in later life. The key to this is equity:… Read more

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in The Yorkshire Post newspaper on 11 August 2026. Read the original here. Dear Lucy Powell,  Congratulations on being appointed Secretary of State for Education by our new Prime Minister. What an honour! You have accepted a busy brief and will no doubt be bombarded with suggestions on… Read more

by Matt Bromley On a recent trip to York I ventured into the Poetry Pharmacy, an intriguing new shop on Coney Street. Its premise is simple yet profound: rather than prescribing pills to alleviate ailments, they dispense verse. As well as traditional volumes of poetry, there are rows of pill bottles containing lines from poems… Read more

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in The Yorkshire Post newspaper on 14 July 2026. Read the original here. When I talk to teachers about curriculum planning, I suggest they start at the end: what knowledge do they want pupils to acquire, retain, and apply – not just in exams, but in 5, 10,… Read more

by Matt Bromley Those who know my work or are regular readers of this blog will be aware that my (forgive the cliché) passion – the fuel that lights my fire – is inclusion. Put another way, the overriding objective in all I do is ensuring every child gets a fair chance in school and… Read more

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in SecEd on 30 June 2026. Read the original here. For years, many of us have argued that what happens beyond the core curriculum – extra-curricular clubs, visits and visitors, careers education, personal development – is not an add-on but an essential part of school because it helps… Read more

by Matt Bromley This article first appeared in SecEd‘s ECT supplement on 10 June 2026. The most effective teachers understand that what happens routinely matters more than what happens occasionally; that consistency trumps intensity; and that culture is built not through grand gestures but through repeated, deliberate practice. As such, at the start of your… Read more