Hello colleague
This month, an invitation to explore rich texts with Abbie, a question to take into your next KS3 departmental conversation, and resources and opportunities that I hope you’ll find useful.
Choosing well: the art of selecting rich texts
What do the books we choose make possible for pupils?
Join Abbie Ing and me on 17 November, 3.30–4.30pm, for our next Teachers’ Collection half-termly check-in. She’ll explore how to choose texts that spark curiosity, build vocabulary and open up rich curriculum learning.
The session will consider language worth knowing, ideas worth discussing and opportunities to encounter different lives and worlds, alongside practical approaches to reading aloud, exploring illustrations and prompting thoughtful discussion.
Everyone is welcome — you don’t need to be a subscriber.
Find out more
KS3: The Ambitious Years
Thank you to everyone sharing the book with colleagues, using it for staff reading and leaving reviews. It is encouraging to hear how it is prompting conversations about transition, curriculum ambition and the purpose of Years 7–9.
These years matter in their own right. They should build on pupils’ primary education, giving every young person access to rich texts, demanding ideas and the support to think deeply within subjects.
A question for your next departmental conversation: where are we deepening pupils’ understanding, and where might we be asking them to start again unnecessarily?
When KS3 is strong, pupils arrive at KS4 with more to build on and less to repair.
The book is available in paperback and on Audible. For discounted orders of ten or more copies, please email hello@marymyatt.com.
Join me at The Education People Show
I’ll be speaking at The Education People Show on Wednesday 11th November at the Kent Event Centre. Registration is free and includes access to the CPD programme and exhibition. If you’re attending, it would be lovely to see you.
See the programme and register.
Supporting the people who make education possible
How do we attract, support and retain colleagues in our schools and trusts?
In this conversation with Al Kingsley and Jonny Uttley for ParentPay, we explore staff wellbeing, recruitment and retention, and some of the things that can make a difference.
Watch the conversation.
Reading: two further resources
For colleagues exploring reading aloud in class, Steve Willshaw’s book may be helpful.
The National Literacy Trust’s Reconstructing Reading conference runs online from 16–26 November, bringing together researchers to explore reading development, comprehension and engagement. Tickets are £150 and include access to recordings until 31 March 2027.
Looking more closely at inclusion and belonging
Kaleidoscope is an independent research and innovation organisation focused on inclusion, belonging and wellbeing.
What interests me is its attention to the experiences behind headline measures: who may be underserved, why experiences differ and what leaders might do in response. It brings people’s voices and circumstances alongside organisational data.
Explore Kaleidoscope.
Young people’s mental health and the online world
Peerscroller has partnered with the Molly Rose Foundation on short resources exploring algorithms, echo chambers and conversations with parents. These may be useful for colleagues working in PSHE, safeguarding and pastoral roles.
Explore the resources.
Could you help shape climate change education?
CAPE, the climate education charity of which I’m a patron, is recruiting new trustees. Its ambition is for every child and young person to have the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand climate change and take meaningful action.
If you have experience in education, communications, fundraising, finance or other skills to contribute, please consider applying. Previous trustee experience isn’t needed, and the commitment is approximately 6–10 days a year.
Applications close on Monday 9th November 2026. For an informal conversation or to apply, email contact@capealliance.org.uk.
What makes teaching great?
Ben Barton and colleagues are gathering real-life stories about what makes teaching worthwhile, to share with the next generation of teachers. If you have an experience you’d like to contribute, you can share your story here.
Please do forward this update to a colleague who might find it useful.
Very best,
Mary