John Tomsett John Tomsett
John Tomsett John Tomsett
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  • John Tomsett

    is a nationally renowned school leader supporting schools to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

  • Featured posts

    This much I know about…five learning points from my work in schools

    11/12/2022 7:17 pm
  • Featured posts

    This much I know about…how to decide what to cut from your school budget

    19/11/2022 10:16 am
  • Featured posts

    This much I know about…teaching what you love

    02/10/2022 9:19 am
  • Featured posts

    This much I know about…loneliness, postal workers and the current industrial dispute

    29/09/2022 5:06 pm
  • Featured posts

    This much I know about…the principles and parameters of curriculum design

    31/08/2022 7:24 am

This much I know about…five learning points from my work in schools

11/12/2022 7:17 pm11/12/2022By johntomsettIn Curriculum, General educational issues, School Leadership, Teaching and Learning0 Comments

Since retiring from headship 16 months ago I have been working with numerous schools across the country. It has been both a privilege and a delight to support colleagues as they strive to improve the quality of teaching & learning…

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This much I know about…how to decide what to cut from your school budget

19/11/2022 10:16 am19/11/2022By johntomsettIn School Leadership0 Comments

I led Huntington School from 2007 to 2021. During that time, school budgets were cut by 9% in real terms, the biggest reduction in 40 years. I wrote at length about how I managed the impact of the drop in…

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This much I know about…teaching what you love

02/10/2022 9:19 am02/10/2022By johntomsettIn Curriculum, Research, Teaching and Learning0 Comments

Dave Williams always makes me laugh. He is a very funny man. And I thought of him last weekend when I listened to Barbara Oakley’s keynote speech at researchED Dublin. With utter clarity, Barbara explained how our brains learn. What…

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This much I know about…loneliness, postal workers and the current industrial dispute

29/09/2022 5:06 pm27/11/2022By johntomsettIn Other stuff2 Comments

Uckfield Post Office, 1955Harry Tomsett, second row, centre But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling…

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This much I know about…the principles and parameters of curriculum design

31/08/2022 7:24 am13/11/2022By johntomsettIn Curriculum, Research, School Leadership, Teaching and Learning0 Comments

“What should be taught to whom, and with what pedagogical object in mind? That master question is threefold: what, to whom, and how?” Jerome Bruner What gives teachers the authority to decide what our children should be taught? Why don’t…

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This much I know about…Hannah Lowe’s “The Kids” and the sonnet form

25/07/2022 4:36 pm27/11/2022By johntomsettIn Other stuff, Uncategorized0 Comments

I have written about sonnets many times; Hannah Lowe’s “The Kids” is a striking volume written entirely in that particular poetic form. “The Art of Teaching II” will resonate with every teacher in the land. You can read it here….

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This much I know about… our next books – SEND Huh and Alternative Provision Huh

25/06/2022 6:12 am25/06/2022By johntomsettIn Curriculum11 Comments

Huh? is my usual response when I enter a Year 6 grammar class! But little did I know when I began working with the indefatigable Mary Myatt that Huh would prove to be the perfect title for our current curriculum…

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This much I know about…sticking stuff in exercise books

14/05/2022 7:36 am14/05/2022By johntomsettIn Curriculum, Teaching and Learning0 Comments

The triangulation of speaking to colleagues, being in lessons and looking at students’ work is crucial to appreciating the quality of the curriculum. When looking in books recently, I have seen two things which have made me think. Firstly, the…

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This much I know about…Huh and the power of curriculum conversations

24/04/2022 8:17 am24/04/2022By johntomsettIn Curriculum, Research, School Leadership, Teaching and Learning0 Comments

“Through conversation…we may whet and sharpen our wits by rubbing them against those of others.” Michel de Montaigne [1] Huh is the Egyptian god of endlessness, creativity, fertility and regeneration. He is the deity Mary Myatt and I have adopted…

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This much I know about…why the quality of time spent in classrooms matters, not the duration!

28/03/2022 7:21 am28/03/2022By johntomsettIn Research, School Leadership, Teaching and Learning2 Comments

There is a lot of publicity about the DfE’s declaration that schools must be open for 32.5 hours a week. Accepting that most schools are already open for longer than 32.5 hours a week, what the DfE need to realise…

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Education consultant, writer & blogger. Co-author of the Huh project with Mary Myatt. Erstwhile head teacher of Huntington School, York. All views are my own.

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claremulley clare mulley @claremulley ·
12h

Among those murdered in the Holocaust were 20,000 Hungarian Jews, shot on the banks of the Danube, having been forced to remove their shoes. The shoes were deemed to hold value. Sculptor Gyula Pauer’s monument is composed of 60 pairs of shoes in iron. #HolocaustMemorialDay

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danielsusskind Daniel Susskind @danielsusskind ·
9h

Today, on Holocaust Memorial Day, I'm thinking about this little boy, the same age as my kids, proudly showing a flower to another child, outside a gas chamber at Auschwitz, where they were all murdered moments later. It is so important for us all to remember what happened.

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thatciviltweet That Civil Service tweet twice a day (fan account) @thatciviltweet ·
13h

Arrogant and offensive. Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?

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ttfupdates The Teacher Foundation @ttfupdates ·
14h

#donotmiss #SOTF conference @ 5pm! #Education Consultant @johntomsett 's Keynote Address & @TTFMaya's panel talk with educators, @imvishnukarthik, @iamwillibrord & George Skaria on the #FutureofSchoolLeadership.
#Registernow, if you haven't already - https://neartail.com/in/regform-ttfconf-jan2023

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tompasterfield Thomas Pasterfield @tompasterfield ·
26 Jan

“Making curriculum accessible isn’t about watering it down; it’s about expanding it to make it work for everyone” - Dr. Shelley Moore @tweetsomemoore at #CASEconf2023

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"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so..."

John Tomsett is a nationally renowned school leader supporting schools to improve the quality of teaching and learning. He has 33 years of teaching experience, with 18 years as a headteacher. He led Huntington School in York, one of the country's leading Research Schools, for 14 years. He offers consultancy on school leadership with a clear focus upon improving teaching and learning and curriculum development.

Twitter

John Tomsett Follow

Education consultant, writer & blogger. Co-author of the Huh project with Mary Myatt. Erstwhile head teacher of Huntington School, York. All views are my own.

johntomsett
Retweet on Twitter John Tomsett Retweeted
thatciviltweet That Civil Service tweet twice a day (fan account) @thatciviltweet ·
13h

Arrogant and offensive. Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?

Reply on Twitter 1618865996713922560 Retweet on Twitter 1618865996713922560 334 Like on Twitter 1618865996713922560 1385 Twitter 1618865996713922560
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© John Tomsett, 2021

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  • About
  • Blog
    • General educational issues
    • Mental Health in Schools
    • Research
    • School Leadership
    • Teaching and Learning
    • Fishing
    • Other stuff
    • Uncategorized
  • Publications
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