Both in the UK and across the globe, schools had adopted the CAT4 test which measures student's four main types of ability known to make a difference to learning and achievement. CAT4 provides an independent perspective on potential pupil achievement that can be used to identify and reveal a child's true hidden potential. But once you have done the assessment what do you do next? What do all the numbers mean and how can we analyse them at a deeper level to really gain a better understanding of our children? Moreover, how do we know if we need to do things differently in the classroom?

As the new academic year approaches, hundreds and thousands of Newly Qualified Teachers will be backing boards, moving tables and preparing for their first ever class that is officially theirs. It is time to go it alone and with this comes excitement, but also anxiety, worry and a little bit of fear.

Over the years, I have created a number of videos that focus on various key aspects of teaching and classroom life. I have compiled the most NQT relevant posts and included them in this article for you to digest. Hopefully, this will take you through a few key areas to consider when preparing for the new school year and your first ever class!

Teachers workload is too much. One contributing factor to this is that they tend to spend more time creating content and resources than actually teaching the children. Too much planning effects teacher wellbeing. We always strive to make sure our lessons are as engaging as possible but finding the happy medium between engaging resource lessons and a work life balance can be challenging.
 
Flexible resources can be used in a variety of creative ways across subjects and the curriculum. By creating a bank of flexible resources overtime, you build a toolbox of engaging activities that can be used in all areas of the curriculum - saving you both time and printing credits! So here are my top five flexible resources that all teachers should have in their resource toolbox.

In the month of May, people all around the world celebrate May the 4th - Star Wars Day! 'May the 4th be with you' (or should I say, 'May the force be with you') is heavily referred to as Growth Mindset. 

​If you Google mindset and Star Wars, reams and reams of pages, websites, posters, blogs, worksheets and videos pop up to explain the link. Yoda has a Growth Mindset and Darth Vadar has a Fixed Mindset. However, there is a huge problem comparing mindset with Star Wars. Mindset is not as simple as this. It is important that teachers and our children get to grips with the dark side of the force.

Young children are not going to sit and listen to 30 minute teacher videos. Keep teacher input as concise and as short as possible. Plan lessons with lots of activities for children to complete. This will reduce screen time and keep children engaged for longer.

'Turning teachers into teams' is the slogan that pops up on Teacherly's homepage. I always get excited at the prospect of allowing teachers to collaborate more and work more effectively. When teachers work together and share ideas - great things happen! Teacherly aims to do this by providing an online platform where resources, planning and ideas are shared easily whilst linking teachers together through collaborative discussion.

Incase you missed it, we shared 25 top teaching tips for advent via our Social Media accounts. For your ease we have listed all of them below in one festive blog for you to refer back to any time you like. You are more than welcome! As always, please do get in touch with any pictures, videos or comments on how you used these tips in your classroom. We love hearing from you! We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!