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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.
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
How To Write Good Curriculum Statements (And Why I'm Not Calling Them Objectives)
Learn how to craft effective curriculum statements and why they are more than just objectives.
Aidan Severs
May 13, 20244 min read
Curriculum Drivers and Disciplinary Knowledge - What's The Link?
Uncover the vital link between curriculum drivers and disciplinary knowledge.
Aidan Severs
May 7, 20244 min read
Wellbeing in Schools: A Framework
When one thinks of an empowered teacher, one does not call to mind the image often linked with that of a teacher; frazzled, harassed, clutching their umpteenth cup of coffee and making a mad dash to their next class, eventually settling down later at home to spend their evening beavering away at marking books, planning the next day's lessons, and all whilst drowning in a sea of that notorious 'paperwork'. And sadly, there are many teachers out there who fit that description,
Aidan Severs
Mar 5, 20248 min read
A SEND-First Approach... To Everything
Imagine a world where children with SEND really were the priority. What would that look like and what would the impact be on all children? That which we've explored in a couple of previous blog posts, Margaret Mullholland puts succinctly in a TES article: "...there’s now a feeling that schools should be structured for these pupils in the first place, rather than trying to adapt to their needs retrospectively." I read the above article whilst working on a SEND project for Oak
Aidan Severs
Feb 6, 20243 min read
SEND Provision Across The Curriculum: Start and End Points
“All pupils should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The National Curriculum Inclusion Statement states that teachers should set high expectations for every pupil, whatever their prior attainment... In many cases, such planning will mean that pupils with SEN and disabilities will be able to study the full national curriculum.” - 6.12, The SEND Code of Practice "Schools should know precisely where children and young people with SEN are in their learning and deve
Aidan Severs
Jan 30, 20246 min read
Subject Leadership and Support for Pupils With SEND
Subject leadership can be a minefield at the best of times, and for many teachers and leaders looking at it through the SEND lens is potentially even more difficult. This blog post contains a number of starting points for subject leaders who want to improve teaching and learning opportunities in their subject for pupils with SEND. Each of these should be engaged with critically, with leaders thinking not of children with specific conditions or diagnoses, but thinking of those
Aidan Severs
Jan 26, 20243 min read
Developing Teacher Subject Knowledge
It's no surprise if I say that in order to teach something well you need to know it well yourself. And in case my saying that isn't convincing enough, here we have it from the excellent and influential What Makes Great Teaching? report from the Sutton Trust: "The most effective teachers have deep knowledge of the subjects they teach, and when teachers’ knowledge falls below a certain level it is a significant impediment to students’ learning." - What Makes Great Teaching? -
Aidan Severs
Dec 12, 20232 min read
How To Observe A Lesson
As I was putting together my 'Starter for 5: Monitoring and Evaluation' blog post I realised that, although I talk about lesson observation with leaders who I work with, I hadn't actually blogged about it. I thought I'd better change that (Edit: this post is now part of that post!). Professor Rob Coe's excellent blog post 'Classroom observation: it’s harder than you think' outlines several ways in which observing teachers teaching is quite difficult to do. In short, he outlin
Aidan Severs
Dec 4, 20236 min read
Starter for 5: Monitoring and Evaluation
1. Monitoring Your Subject 101 "Many new middle leaders are effectively thrown in at the deep end and are expected, at least until they are given training, to monitor and evaluate their subject. Often the only experience of monitoring and evaluating that these leaders have is what has been done to them... To try to provide some nutshell clarity I often share the following pointers for effective M&E." https://www.aidansevers.com/post/monitoring-your-subject-101 2. How To Obser
Aidan Severs
Nov 29, 20232 min read
Formal Assessments: Are You Trying To Make Them Do Too Much?
If you really interrogate what you are trying to get out of your formal assessments, I wonder what you'd find. The true purpose of a...
Aidan Severs
Oct 16, 20232 min read
New Subject Leader? Need Training? This One's For You.
Are you a new subject leader? Then this blog post is for you. A compilation of where to find free CPD on my blog and podcast.
Aidan Severs
Oct 1, 20232 min read
S1 E8 - Providing CPD as a Subject Leader with Stuart Rogers
In this, the 8th episode of The Subject Leaders Podcast, Stuart Rogers, another Computing primary subject leader, answers the following questions: How can subject leaders decide on what professional development needs there are? How can subject leaders develop staff so that teaching and learning in their subject improves? What are the implications and outcomes of using instructional coaching as a subject leader? Find this podcast episode on your preferred podcast service:...
Aidan Severs
Jun 8, 202321 min read
S1 E7 - Subject Leaders - Monitoring, Assessing Learning and Assessment in Art with Chris Mann
In this, the 7th episode of The Subject Leaders Podcast, Chris Mann, an English and Art primary subject leader, answers the following questions: How can subject leaders ensure that the monitoring activities they carry out are worthwhile? What is the purpose of assessment and how should learning be assessed? Find this podcast episode on your preferred podcast service: https://linktr.ee/subjectleaderspodcast Below you can find the transcript for this episode of The Subject Lead
Aidan Severs
May 30, 202322 min read
S1 E6 - Subject Leadership, Leadership Style and Barriers to Teaching Computing with Allen Tsui
In episode 6 of The Subject Leaders Podcast Aidan speaks to Allen Tsui, a primary (and A-level) computing leader and teacher.
Aidan Severs
May 25, 202315 min read
S1 E5 - Setting Objectives, the National Curriculum & Developing DT Knowledge with Sarah Haigh
The Subject Leaders Podcast S1 E5 - Setting Objectives, the National Curriculum & Developing Teachers' DT Subject Knowledge with Sarah Haigh
Aidan Severs
May 18, 202319 min read
S1 E4: Contextualising Curriculum, Implementation & Teaching Primary History with Vinay Verma
In the fourth episode of The Subject Leaders Podcast we talk to Vinay Verma, an early career teacher and primary history leader. In this episode Vinay and Aidan explore how subject leaders might go about contextualising a school's curriculum in any subject and how to be sensitive to the needs of the school when implementing change. Vinay also shares teaching strategies for teaching the primary history curriculum, answering these three questions: How can subject leaders make s
Aidan Severs
May 11, 20231 min read
S1 E3: Promoting your Subject and Monitoring and Evaluating Maths with Kieran Mackle
The third episode of The Subject Leaders Podcast features podcaster and author Kieran Mackle. He's well-known for his Thinking Deeply About Primary Education (#TDaPE) podcast and his book Thinking Deeply About Primary Mathematics. In this episode Kieran looks back on his time as maths subject leader across three school and shares his knowledge about promoting and encouraging enthusiasm for the subject you lead before sharing his thoughts about assessment in primary maths. Fin
Aidan Severs
May 4, 202322 min read
S1 E2: SMSC Development, Supporting Teachers and Outdoor Learning with Christian Kitley
An outdoor learning subject leader talks about designing curriculum, developing teachers and contributing to pupils' SMSC development.
Aidan Severs
Apr 26, 202322 min read
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