One of the most important things about being in education is keeping up to date with what’s new in the world of education.
One way of doing this is to trawl through the thousands of posts that are sent via Twitter every day. The other way is to subscribe to some of the websites that provide the content mentioned on Twitter and get it sent directly to your mail box.
Below are some of the websites I would recommend subscribing to so that you can stay in the know.
Tip: To manage your emails more effectively, set up an email rule so that emails go into designated folders and don’t clog up your inbox.
1. The Department for Education Updates
If you subscribe to these updates you’ll be one of the first in the know about everything education related, whether it’s EYFS, primary, secondary, FE or HE. The updates are linked to statutory guidance documents, policies and general information that the Government need to make public.
This was an invaluable subscription during the recent pandemic, although the constant updates to the Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak did become a bit tiresome.
Information coming into your inbox from this subscription can include anything from the seemingly random Headteacher board meetings schedule and preparation templates to useful information such as the Early career framework reforms: overview or Behaviour experts to support schools with poor discipline.
As you can probably imagine, there’s a lot of information uploaded to the DfE website every day, so you can decide how often you want to receive updates; either once a day, once a week or every time they add or update a page (which could mean receiving more than one email a day).
Click here to subscribe to DfE updates.
2. The Department for Education Blog – The Education Hub
The Education Hub is a site for parents, pupils, education professionals and the media that captures all you need to know about the education system. You’ll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more. (Their words not mine!)
Some of the more recent blogs are basically the DfE patting themselves on the back about things they feel they’ve done well, such as how they’ve supported the education sector during the pandemic. But most of blog posts are quite informative.
For instance the information about how they’re supporting schools with the removal of Letters and Sounds 2007 from the Department’s list of validated phonics programmes, what they’re doing to make school uniforms more affordable and information about the new Turing Scheme.
Click here to subscribe to the DfE Blog.
Andrew Hall is a well-known safeguarding expert who shares his expertise and experiences with schools across the country, helping them keep all children safe from harm.
His weekly breifing emails bring together all the latest safeguarding news and information.
Information in more recent briefing emails includes guidance from the OEAP on residential visits, information on the Children’s Code (from the Information Commissioners Office) and links to guides such as a recent one published by British Esports on video games.
Click here to subscribe to the weekly safeguarding briefing.
4. TES Job alerts
This may seem like a strange one, but actually from a leadership point of view it makes sense.
If you’re planning to apply for a new role, signing up for TES job alerts even before you’re ready to apply will give you a window into what’s currently out there. Take the time to look through job descriptions, person specifications and school websites and think about whether you would be able to apply for the role now (if you were interested in doing so). If you decide you wouldn’t be able to apply, think about what you would need to do to get you there.
When looking through the alerts think about the following: What experience are they looking for? What are the main tasks they’re expecting the candidate to carry out when in post? If you were ready to apply for a new job, what would make you apply or not apply for the role? The latter question will get you thinking about the type of role and school you really want.
Click here to set up your TES alert.
This the odd one out amongst the subscriptions as it has nothing to do with education, apart from the fact that you can get hot dinners in school (tenuous link, I know).
As educators we work hard, so every now and again we deserve to treat ourselves to a decent meal out.
Unfortunately the Hot Dinners website does only focus on restaurants in London, but it provides readers with insider knowledge on what’s happening on the London food scene. They make it easier for you to find out which restaurants are worth going to and are creating the biggest buzz and they only feature restaurants that have at least two reviews from respected critics or sources.
The great thing about this website is the Offers section. Here you can get details of offers available at some of the new opened restaurants, usually anything up to 50% off the bill and trust me…it’s worth it.
Over the past few years I’ve been to some fantastic restaurants and paid a lot less than I would ordinarily.
The most recent restaurant I visited was Bisushima, a Japanese restaurant near Trafalgar Square. The restaurant was just launching and Hot Dinners customers got 50% off food. I went with some friends and it was one of the best meals we’d ate in a long time and we probably paid about £50 each.
It’s free to sign up to the Hot Dinners newsletter of which there are two a week. To get the offers you usually just have to quote ‘Hot Dinners’ when you book.
Click here to sign up to the Hot Dinners newsletter.