💭 Thought experiment… Imagine school patronage disappeared overnight. You arrive at school tomorrow morning. What actually changes? Not what should change. Not what you’d like to change. What would genuinely be different in your school the moment you unlocked the door? Would the children notice? Or would most of the

🆕 Blog Post The Department Says There Was No Discussion About Which Survey Results to Release 🔗 https://simonmlewis.substack.com/p/the-department-says-there-was-no

Every summer, I find myself looking for ways to save schools a little time before the madness begins. Over the years I’ve built a few free and low-cost tools that thousands of schools have used: 📅 Calendar Generator 🚸 Yard Duty Generator 📖 http://schoolpolicy.ie 🔄 Rotamate They all came from

This question might be uncomfortable. When I posted about the new SNA circular, several SNAs raised concerns about the additional hours. But what interested me wasn’t simply opposition to the hours themselves. It was why. There seemed to be a genuine fear that principals would misuse them. One teacher commented:

🎨👩‍🎨 Looking for your thoughts on the Arts subjects. Are these subjects under threat? What do the Arts subjects look like in 21st century classrooms? Is Music taught with karaoke-style YouTube videos? Are Visual Arts classes inspired by Instagram? And is Drama preparing for the Christmas Concert? If so, why

One of the things I found positive about the new SNA circular was that it seemed to recognise the reality of what SNAs actually do. Supporting regulation. Reinforcing learning. Supporting communication. Contributing to Student Support Plans. Professional development. Working collaboratively with teachers. To me, that looked like a step towards

A few weeks ago I posted about the new SNA circular. What struck me about the reaction wasn’t that people disagreed with my interpretation. It was that almost everything came back to one thing: The 72 hours. The new circular makes some fairly significant changes to the SNA role. It

A few weeks ago, I posted a cartoon about an NCSE decision to bring the parent portal deadline back to 1st September, and announce it during the summer holidays. The reaction was overwhelming. Again and again, teachers, principals and parents described a huge disconnect between the NCSE and the reality