#228 HoD Space ep1: Praise tick sheets, Year 7 sets, first departmental meeting

Craig Barton

HoD Space

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Episode overview

In this episode of the podcast, Jo Morgan and Craig Barton discuss:

1. Praise, and the problem of the “invisible pupils”
Prompted by a question from HOD Space member Megan, Jo and Craig dig into Pritesh Raichura’s seating plan tick sheet — where a teacher aims for 30 to 50 individual praises a lesson — and ask whether that’s realistic in a maths lesson built around long stretches of independent practice, before turning to how a head of department supports a teacher who wants to try something like this, and what it would take to roll it out across a team.

2. Setting Year 7
Jo explains why her school groups new Year 7s using SATs results rather than a baseline test, how two early end-of-unit tests are used to sense-check those groupings, and why keeping the whole business of setting deliberately low-key matters as much as getting the groups right.

3. Planning your September INSET meeting
Jo makes the case that the first department meeting of the year is the most important one you’ll run all year, and talks through what goes into hers — from lesson expectations and homework routines to the admin nudges teachers need and the single department focus that will shape the year ahead.

Resources discussed in the show

  • HOD Space — the community for heads of maths, with forums, surveys, Jo’s CPD video library and a bank of downloadable resources (hodspace.com)
  • Resourceaholic — Jo Morgan’s blog (resourceaholic.com)
  • Operation Education — the podcast from Nina and Pritesh Raichura on the operational side of teaching; episode 3, “How to notice the invisible pupils”, is the one discussed here
  • Pritesh Raichura’s Seating Plan Tick Sheet — shared on X alongside the Operation Education episode (@Mr_Raichura)
  • Pritesh Raichura teaching, on StepLab — a recorded lesson showing the style being discussed: https://steplab.co/watch/pritesh-raichura-lesson-1
  • Jo’s CPD videos on HOD Space — seating plans, setting Year 7, planning your September INSET meeting, communicating with your team, and results day
  • Jo’s resources on HOD Space — schemes of work, Key Stage 3 assessments, template department meetings and template letters to parents

Video

Stuff we have been working on:

  1. My Tips for Teachers Guides to… series
  2. My updated mrbartonmnaths website
  3. Jo’s resourceaholic website

My usual plugs

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