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Head Cases: Exploring Complex Headteacher Challenges - SSAT

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Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 28

If you're an aspiring, new or experienced headteacher, our Head Cases programme offers a case-based approach to exploring the complexity of the role.

It's not too late to sign up for cohort 2 of this innovative and involved approach to headship CPDL.

www.ssatuk.co.uk/cpd/leadersh...

Why join the Head Cases programme? SSAT’s innovative Head Cases programme offers a ‘signature pedagogy’ (Shulman, 2005) to help you develop wisdom of

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Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 14

I like 'James' but didn't get the sense of amazement that I'd heard from others and hoped for.

NW was brilliant. Loved every minute of it.

Melting Point was a truly fascinating history, told entirely through sources and with no authorial voice. Quite brilliant, especially in the opening sections.

Head Cases: Exploring Complex Headteacher Challenges - SSAT

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 14

Books 21-30 of my 100 for 2025 challenge/resolution.

Pick of the bunch was Muriel Spark's The Driver's Seat.

Quite simply, I've never read a novella like it. Deeply moving, disturbing, confusing, and powerful. I'm still trying hard to process it and suspect that I will be for a long while.

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Reposted by Keven Bartle

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 11

I've been providing reflective supervision to school leaders for over a year now.

Neither counselling nor therapy, case-based supervision has given them a space to share, reflect on, and rethink how they tackle the weighty challenges they face.

It helps. Each of them has renewed for a second year.

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Reposted by Keven Bartle

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

Hi Beth. Thanks for the kind mention. The follow up chat about the limitations of NPQH is very familiar. It came up in our Rethinking Headship survey repeatedly last year.

Which was why I developed the Head Cases offer, now recruiting for a second cohort.

www.ssatuk.co.uk/cpd/leadersh...

Why join the Head Cases programme? SSAT’s innovative Head Cases programme offers a ‘signature pedagogy’ (Shulman, 2005) to help you develop wisdom of

Head Cases: Exploring Complex Headteacher Challenges - SSAT

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Reposted by Keven Bartle

Caroline Spalding @mrsspalding.bsky.social · Apr 10

This looks excellent #EduSky

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Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 11

I've been providing reflective supervision to school leaders for over a year now.

Neither counselling nor therapy, case-based supervision has given them a space to share, reflect on, and rethink how they tackle the weighty challenges they face.

It helps. Each of them has renewed for a second year.

2 7

Reposted by Keven Bartle

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

Cohort 2 of Head Cases is open for delegates who are aspiring or serving headteachers from any setting.

We will be using case studies and methods across five sessions to think deeply about complex challenges facing HTs, from complaints to HR, finance to exclusions.

www.ssatuk.co.uk/cpd/leadersh...

Why join the Head Cases programme? SSAT’s innovative Head Cases programme offers a ‘signature pedagogy’ (Shulman, 2005) to help you develop wisdom of

Attention needed: What is happening with behaviour in inspection reports? - SSAT

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Reposted by Keven Bartle

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

In a recent blogpost, I asked what is happening with behaviour in Ofsted reports.

Based on every need to improve comment in every inspection report since September 2023, this post has some uncomfortable answers.

Not much and increasingly less would be the summary.

www.ssatuk.co.uk/blog/attenti...

This morning, I asked an AI tool ‘what are the recent trends in pupil behaviour in English schools?’. The response that came back said this:

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

And, of course, so good to connect with you here. I've been a bit social media reluctant in recent months but you're a reminder of why it can be the best place. Hoping that you're very well.

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

I very much hope that you do too. So far, the blend of experience and inexperience has been beneficial. That's in line with the evidence where it has been trialled for school leaders and from other domains.

In short, it would be great to have you involved.

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

Thank you, Caroline. It has been fascinating seeing this through (so far) with cohort 1.

So much resonance with each case, meaning colleagues are each bringing insights, some of which are very different. And yet, each session has concluded with some commonality that holds the experiences together.

Deliver cost-effective training to staff in your networks and generate additional income for your school with SSAT's franchise models.

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

Conclusions are aimed at policymakers but are worth school leader attention too, particularly improving feelings of belonging.

This came up with PISA and TIMSS responses too.

Our work on attendance might be able to help schools wrestling with absence.

www.ssatuk.co.uk/cpd/school-i...

Attendance - SSAT

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

Most striking is the assertion, based on decompositional analysis, that the absence of PP students in Y11 accounts for the entire increase in the gap in their outcomes.

For students in Y6, the picture is more complex but absence still accounts for almost half of the increase in the gap.

Breaking down the gap - Education Policy Institute

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

As well as the DfE report on attendance (see earlier posts) March also saw this report from the Education Policy Institute.

epi.org.uk/publications...

Focusing primarily on the disadvantage gap between 2019 and 2023, it speaks volumes about the impact of attendance and outcomes.

The latest report by EPI investigates the drivers of the disadvantage gap and calls on the government to address the underlying causes of school absences, as it identifies higher levels of absence to ...

epi.org.uk

Reposted by Keven Bartle

SSAT @ssatuk.co.uk · Jan 21

SSAT has tracked every “need to improve” bullet point made in every Ofsted inspection conducted in schools and colleges since September. The results are fascinating.

Find out more: ow.ly/76GM50UfBTq

#EduSky @kevbartle.bsky.social #education

Attendance: What works - SSAT

Reposted by Keven Bartle

SSAT @ssatuk.co.uk · Jan 23

Do you want to delve a little deeper into the five ‘best bets’ for improving attendance and punctuality?

Find out more about our webinars: www.ssatuk.co.uk/cpd/school-i...

#EduSky #attendance @kevbartle.bsky.social

Deliver cost-effective training to staff in your networks and generate additional income for your school with SSAT's franchise models.

Head Cases: Exploring Complex Headteacher Challenges - SSAT

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

Hi Beth. Thanks for the kind mention. The follow up chat about the limitations of NPQH is very familiar. It came up in our Rethinking Headship survey repeatedly last year.

Which was why I developed the Head Cases offer, now recruiting for a second cohort.

www.ssatuk.co.uk/cpd/leadersh...

Why join the Head Cases programme? SSAT’s innovative Head Cases programme offers a ‘signature pedagogy’ (Shulman, 2005) to help you develop wisdom of

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Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

For schools improving their odds of success - more children at expected for RWM or at 5+ English and Maths, getting more students into 95-100% attendance band is key.

This is because the proportion of students in these top two bands is so large.

For students, any upward improvement is important.

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

At KS2, reaching a higher next attendance band increases the chance of success (expected RWM) by 30% and that's fairly consistent.

At KS4, gains across all bands are smaller, but moving from 90-95% to 95-100% attendance bands almost doubles a student's odds of success (grade 5 English and Maths).

Link between attendance and attainment

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

In case you missed it (you probably didn't) the DfE report about the impact of absence on 2023 outcomes at KS2 and KS4 is fascinating but not surprising.

Improving from any lower 5% attendance band to the next one increases a student's odds of success notably.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Report showing that school attendance is associated with higher average academic performance in an assessment year across all pupils from all backgrounds.

www.gov.uk

Attention needed: What is happening with behaviour in inspection reports? - SSAT

Keven Bartle @kevbartle.bsky.social · Apr 10

In a recent blogpost, I asked what is happening with behaviour in Ofsted reports.

Based on every need to improve comment in every inspection report since September 2023, this post has some uncomfortable answers.

Not much and increasingly less would be the summary.

www.ssatuk.co.uk/blog/attenti...

This morning, I asked an AI tool ‘what are the recent trends in pupil behaviour in English schools?’. The response that came back said this: