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Along with being a primary school teacher and leader, blogging is where this all started for Aidan. If it wasn't for his passion for writing and sharing his learning and experiences, he wouldn't be working as an education consultant with schools across the country today. Shared best practice should be available to all and here on the Aidan Severs Consulting blog you can get ideas for making a difference in your own school. The blog is also a great place to learn exactly the kind of work that Aidan can partner with your school on.
Improving Outcomes By Digging Down Deep into the Data
Improving Outcomes: A Clear Priority Matthew and Leona had one clear priority on their Self Evaluation Form: to improve their combined score at the end of KS2. They ran an excellent school, and had done for years. They prioritised children above all - raising that percentage of children achieving expected standard across writing, maths and reading certainly wasn't just about the accountability measures. They cared about ensuring those children got the best possible outcomes.
Aidan Severs
7 days ago5 min read
When Staff Appraisals Go Bad
Imagine this: you’re a deputy head conducting a staff appraisal and in front of you, your colleague is in floods of tears because of the feedback you’ve just given them. Your heart goes out to them, but you knew the words had to be said...
Aidan Severs
Feb 23 min read
What's It Like To Work With Aidan?
Teachers' and leaders' testimonials can help you to learn more about how I will work with you and your staff.
Aidan Severs
Jan 146 min read
What Primary Schools Need To Know From The Curriculum And Assessment Review (Updated Based On Government's Response)
The only Curriculum and Assessment Review headline that really matters is this:
It's c200 pages of suggestions FOR THE GOVERNMENT, not for you, your school, your trust or your educational organisation.
However, most of us want to remain abreast and poised, ready to make changes when the time comes. So, what is there to know?
Aidan Severs
Nov 5, 202514 min read
The Challenge of Challenge: Defining What It Means in Your School
I recently started off a teacher training session with the following questions: What do we mean by challenge? Who should we be challenging? How often should we challenge them? I'd asked roughly the same questions of senior leaders earlier in the day and it led to some interesting discussions. We realised that there was a chance that when talking about challenge we could be talking at cross-purposes. When I asked the leaders the questions, I was trying to clarify the purpose o
Aidan Severs
Oct 20, 20253 min read
Why You Don't Need An Intent Statement (But Why It Is Actually Useful To Have One)
Why don't you need an intent subject for your subject's curriculum? Because no one says you have to, not even Ofsted... However, whilst ‘intent statements’ aren’t a necessity they can help curriculum makers and teachers. How so? Well, they provide a touchstone (a test, or benchmark) for any curriculum development and teaching.
Aidan Severs
Oct 6, 20254 min read
One Thing Your Curriculum Documentation Doesn't Need (Unless You Also Provide Lesson Plans)
Garbled title aside, this blog post is a very simple one. And the message is this: You don't need to mandate pedagogical choices. You don't need to spend your curriculum-writing time on telling teachers how to teach. Your curriculum documentation - your medium term plans, unit overviews, schemes of work, or whatever you call them - does not need to include information about how the content should be taught. Your energy is best spent elsewhere. Namely, when writing curriculum
Aidan Severs
Sep 16, 20252 min read
Replacing Onerous Primary Assessment with Better Monitoring and Evaluation (Part 1)
If you read my recent post on assessing foundation subjects in primary and were left wondering about the lack of evidence and data that...
Aidan Severs
May 19, 20254 min read
Why You Might Need To Rewrite Your Curriculum (and Why You Might Not)
You've spent ages writing your primary foundation subject curriculum and by now you've probably spent time rewriting it too, or at least revising it. Curriculum rewrite: assessment Now it's time to have a think about how to assess the pupils, what with the content all done and dusted. But the more you think, the more you realise it's not that easy. Especially since there are a few things you know you must avoid: Endless APP-style grids Massive teacher workload Paperwork for
Aidan Severs
Mar 31, 20253 min read
Starter for 5: Team Leadership
Leading a team for the first time can be exciting but nerve-wracking. Many of us are given such a role with little to no training simply because we were good at the core business of the organisation we work in. Usually, the role up until the point you become a leader has nothing to do with team leadership and requires a completely different set of skills. If you're a new team leader, the this is the blog post for you! One of the best things you can do as a team leader is reme
Aidan Severs
Dec 17, 20242 min read
How Do I Make The Most Of My Team Members' Expertise?
How Watership Down and a unique experience transformed my leadership Looking for leadership advice from a rabbit In the Richard Adam's children's classic 'Watership Down', the group of escaping rabbits are led by Hazel who proves himself to be an excellent leader; one rabbit comments to some others that ‘ he must be good or you'd all be dead’ . For rabbits whose main aim is to survive, Hazel is the perfect leader. But, as I read, I noticed something incredible. Look at t
Aidan Severs
Sep 10, 20244 min read
How Can I Support My Team in Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance?
Actually I prefer the phrase life-work balance, and in reality I'm not sure there wisdom in framing it as a balance at all, but that's another blog post for another day. However, one of the key things we come up against as leaders of teams of people is that people are so different! Helping them all to do the same thing - in this instance manage their work-life balance - will never be achieved by having a common approach. So if people are so different, how can we help them to
Aidan Severs
Jul 30, 202411 min read
How Do I Get My Staff To Stick To Deadlines?
I love a deadline, and chances are if you're reading this you do too. It's how we get things done! When I say I like a deadline I mean that that's what motivates me. It doesn't necessarily mean that I'll work sensibly before said deadline but it does mean it'll be done when the deadline arrives (last-minuter here!). I need a deadline. But people like you and me can get very frustrated when people who we work with don't stick to deadlines. In fact, we find it very hard to fath
Aidan Severs
Jul 9, 20244 min read
What Can Go Wrong When Writing Your Own Curriculum?
I've seen first-hand what can go wrong in developing curricula, and the additional time and resources that are wasted as a result. Here are a few things to avoid: Forgetting to start with vision and values You have to start with something which is going to underpin all of your curriculum decision-making. Many schools these days have outlined their vision and values, but are not so far along the journey of actually embedding these into everything they do, which should include
Aidan Severs
Jul 2, 20243 min read
Can Codifying Teaching Really Improve Teachers?
Can we really codify teaching, simplifying it into a set of easy-to-follow steps? Is it possible to see a video, a diagram or read about a routine, and then enact that in the classroom in a such a way that a particular outcome is guaranteed? Even if we practise it outside of the classroom first in some kind of simulation, can we be sure that those actions are going to have the desired results? Is it a case of becoming an expert, aiming for the hallowed 10,000 hours of practic
Aidan Severs
Jun 4, 20244 min read
The 4 Ps Of The Design & Technology Curriculum
Discover how to revolutionize your design technology curriculum with the 4 Ps approach and learn to teach DT effectively.
Aidan Severs
May 28, 20243 min read
What is substantive knowledge?
Discover exactly what substantive knowledge is. Check out some examples of disciplinary knowledge.
Aidan Severs
May 23, 20242 min read
What is procedural knowledge?
Discover exactly what procedural knowledge is. Check out some examples of disciplinary knowledge.
Aidan Severs
May 23, 20242 min read
What is disciplinary knowledge?
Discover exactly what disciplinary knowledge is. Check out some examples of disciplinary knowledge.
Aidan Severs
May 23, 20242 min read
Curriculum: What Is The Best Kind Of 'Big Question'?
Unlock the secret to crafting the perfect 'Big Question Curriculum' with the ultimate guide. Learn the best question types and their impact.
Aidan Severs
May 21, 20246 min read
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