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Thinking Deeply about Primary Education: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Kieran Mackle
Welcome to Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, the podcast that gives you a peek inside the minds of some truly inspirational primary teachers. Whether you're new to the profession or a school leader with tons of experience this podcast is a must listen. For references, links and extended cut video episodes head over to www.thinkingdeeply.info
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- Today22 min
Journaling, online platforms, formative assessment and more...May 2026 on TDaPE
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference OnlineFor show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribeAI For Teachers newsletterFor maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about The Story of Maths - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.proEpisode 294: If you missed any May episodes, this is your way in. If you listened to them all, it might be another chance to hear them differently. Featuring wonderful guests on a range of pertinent topics from journaling and online platforms to formative assessment and human education in an increasingly digital world, this episode might just pique your interest...
- 4 days ago57 min
The Principles of Effective Teaching and Learning with Matthew Best
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference OnlineFor show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribeAI For Teachers newsletterFor maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about The Story of Maths - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and www.acel.proWhat if the lessons that look most exciting are not always the lessons where students learn the most?Episode 293: In this episode of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I’m joined by Matthew Best, a P7 teacher, maths lead and senior leader, for a conversation about effective teaching, mathematics, curriculum reform and the opportunity created by TransformED.We explore why primary teaching has so often been pulled towards novelty, activity and engagement, and why this can distract from the harder, more important work of securing learning. Matthew makes the case for calm, predictable classrooms, explicit teaching, worked examples, careful questioning and responsive professional judgement.We also discuss workload, differentiation, inspection culture, curriculum design, the problem with proxies for learning, and why teachers need to be freed up to focus on what matters most: helping students know more, remember more and do more.This is a conversation about putting teaching and learning back at the centre of everything we do in schools.
- 1 weeks ago42 min
Vision Into Practice: How Shaftesbury Park Built a Bilingual Curriculum
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference OnlineFor show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribeAI For Teachers newsletterFor maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about The Story of Maths - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and www.acel.proEpisode 292: In this episode of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I’m joined by Bunmi Richards, Alastair Anderson and James Cousins from Shaftesbury Park Primary School to explore what bilingual education looks like in practice.Shaftesbury Park’s bilingual curriculum did not begin with a language programme. It began with the school’s values: a local school with a global perspective, serving a richly diverse community and committed to helping students develop cultural appreciation, confidence and a strong sense of identity.Across the conversation, we explore how the school’s French bilingual stream works from the early years through to the end of primary school, how oracy, immersion, phonics, topic-based teaching and cultural learning are carefully sequenced, and why the model depends on long-term commitment rather than short-term initiative thinking.We also discuss the practicalities: staffing, planning, parental communication, governance, workload, progression, misconceptions about bilingualism, and the challenge of what happens when students leave primary school with a level of French that many secondary schools are not yet equipped to build on.This is a fascinating conversation about curriculum, culture, implementation and ambition. Whether you are interested in language learning, school vision, curriculum design or the conditions that allow distinctive practice to thrive, there is plenty here to think about.
- 2 weeks ago42 min
April 2026: What Emerged Across the Conversations
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference OnlineFor show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribeAI For Teachers newsletterFor maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about The Story of Maths - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.proEpisode 291: April was another terrific month for Thinking Deeply about Primary Education. In this episode we revisit the moments, ideas and questions from April 2026 that made me think the most.This is not a reel clip for the sake of it. It's a chance to slow down, connect threads across conversations, and surface the professional ideas that resonated the most. From classroom practice to leadership, the role of artificial intelligence, metacognition and more. If you missed any April episodes, this is your way in. If you listened to them all, this a chance to hear them differently.
- 2 weeks ago1h 0m
For Neil and Shannen: A TDaPE Wedding Special
This week’s episode of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education is a very special one, as we celebrate the marriage of Neil Almond and Shannen Doherty.To mark the occasion, we’ve brought together messages from friends, reflections from across their time on the podcast, the first questions they ever answered on TDaPE, and the final questions they each answered before getting married.It is part celebration, part archive, part thank you to two brilliant people who have given so much to the show, the profession, and the wider education community.Congratulations, Neil and Shannen. This one’s for you.
- 3 weeks ago36 min
Mathematical Journaling in Action: Helping Students Think, Struggle and Explain
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference OnlineFor show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribeAI For Teachers newsletterFor maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about The Story of Maths - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and www.acel.proEpisode 289: In this episode of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I’m joined by Mark Bowen to explore mathematical journaling in action.Following on from a previous episode with Kirsten and Holly on mathematical journaling, Mark shares how he took the idea, adapted it for his own class, and developed a simple classroom structure built around three phases: download, investigate and communicate.We discuss how journaling can help students move beyond surface-level calculation, become more comfortable with struggle, draw on prior knowledge, experiment with different approaches, and explain their mathematical thinking with greater clarity.Mark also talks candidly about implementation: what worked, what did not, why he introduced a classroom character called Trev, how he used modelling and scaffolding to support students, and why he would slow the process down if he were starting again.This is a wonderfully practical episode about helping students become more active, reflective and confident mathematical thinkers.If you are interested in problem solving, reasoning, metacognition, mathematical journaling, curriculum design or simply making mathematics feel more purposeful in the classroom, this conversation is well worth your time.
- May 16, 202642 min
Online Maths Platforms: Workload, Retrieval and the Limits of Technology
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference OnlineFor show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribeAI For Teachers newsletterFor maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about The Story of Maths - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and www.acel.proEpisode 288: In this episode of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, I’m joined by Hannah Hogg from Dr Frost Learning to explore the role of online platforms in mathematics education.Hannah brings the perspective of a former secondary mathematics teacher, middle school head of maths and now member of the Dr Frost Learning team. We discuss the advantages of online platforms, particularly around workload, retrieval practice, diagnostic insight, automated marking and helping teachers identify gaps in prerequisite knowledge.But this is not a conversation about replacing the teacher with technology. We also explore the limitations of online platforms, especially for younger students, practical mathematical experiences, manipulatives, teacher explanation, classroom interaction and the human side of learning mathematics.Across the episode, we consider how tools can support teachers without dictating pedagogy, how they might be used in primary and middle school settings, and why the most important question is not simply whether a platform saves time, but whether it helps teachers make better decisions about teaching and learning.If you are thinking about online maths platforms, assessment, retrieval, workload, curriculum choice or the balance between technology and teacher expertise, this episode offers plenty to think about.
- May 9, 202645 min
Four ways to get the most from formative assessment...
Get your tickets for the TDaPE Conference OnlineFor show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the Hey! What You Reading For newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribeAI For Teachers newsletterFor maths curriculum questions contact us here or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about The Story of Maths - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and www.acel.proEpisode 287: Formative assessment is one of those phrases everyone in education seems to recognise, but far fewer people define in the same way.In this episode, I’m joined by Stuart Welsh to explore a recent systematic review of formative assessment in mathematics education and what it might mean for the classroom. We discuss why formative assessment should be understood as more than checking for understanding, why mini whiteboards and exit tickets only become formative when they lead to action, and why good assessment is less about gathering more information and more about making better decisions.We also consider the role of questioning, feedback, written marking, peer discussion and digital tools, asking what it really takes to uncover students’ mathematical thinking and respond in ways that move learning forward.
About Thinking Deeply about Primary Education
Welcome to Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, the podcast that gives you a peek inside the minds of some truly inspirational primary teachers. Whether you're new to the profession or a school leader with tons of experience this podcast is a must listen. For references, links and extended cut video episodes head over to www.thinkingdeeply.info
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