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Jack Minto, Author at jackminto.com - Page 16 of 20

Author: Jack Minto

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Academy trust “Alliances” as a defence against forced participation in a MAT

Now this is interesting……five single-academy trusts have launched an “Alliance” to ward off the erosion of each school’s “individuality” as DfE continues its push towards MATs.

To read the full article about this in Schools Week, click here.

If you would like to review either (i) how your academy school might develop an “Alliance” with other single-academy trusts or (ii) how to ensure that your academy school might avoid being pushed into a MAT, (or indeed, for a basic and more general chat about what I do) please contact me at jack@jackminto.com or on 017514 499238 for a preliminary discussion.

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Schools’ views on the perceived benefits and obstacles to joining a Multi-academy Trust

DfE have published an extremely interesting research report on the above which addresses the following questions:
# what are the experiences of schools or academies that have joined a MAT in the last couple of years?
# why have maintained schools decided not to convert to join a MAT?
# why have standalone academies not joined or formed a MAT?
and presents the difference between the experience of being within a MAT and perceptions of what being in a MAT would be like.

You can read the report here.

If you would like to discuss how to your school might optimally evaluate joining a Multi-academy Trust (or indeed, just have a basic and more general chat about what I do) please contact me at jack@jackminto.com or on 017514 499238 for a preliminary discussion.

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Ibid – by Mark Dunn. Unbearably Hilarious

Only Mark Dunn, author of the acclaimed Ella Minnow Pea, would attempt to write a novel entirely in footnotes- and succeed so triumphantly.

Ibid is the off-the-wall fictional biography of Jonathan Blashette, a three-legged circus performer and deodorant entrepreneur. Dunn, a character in his own novel, is Blashette’s esteemed biographer. But when Dunn’s editor destroys the manuscript in an unfortunate bathtub accident, all that remains are the footnotes, which they arrange to publish in a consummate portrait of Blashette’s strangely hilarious life story, one that offers some infinitely interesting morsels of American cultural history.

Of course, as endnotes go, these are the tidbits, the marginalia: snippets of commentary, correspondence, court transcripts, song lyrics, and even a recipe for Boston baked beans. But in the topsy-turvy world of Ibid, the footnotes tell the truest story of all. Click here for more on Ibid.

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How do you solve a problem like Academies?

Schools Week have published an extremely interesting piece on the above issue – examining the difficult choices ministers face as they seek to continue to move more schools into Academy Trusts.

You can read the full article here.

Commentators estimate that it will take ten more years to complete the “Academisation” reforms.

If you would like to discuss how to your school might optimally evaluate it’s “Academisation” options (or indeed, just have a basic and more general chat about what I do) please contact me at jack@jackminto.com or on 017514 499238 for a preliminary discussion.

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So, what’s Pilish writing?

Pilish is an extraordinary form of constrained writing that straddles the boundary between language and mathematics. Pilish literature is written in such a way that the number of letters in each successive word is equal to the successive decimal places of pi, 3.14159265359…

The first few numbers of pi can be memorized using the mnemonic “How I wish I could calculate pi,” while extra decimal places can be added by memorizing ever longer sentences (“How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics” takes pi to its 14th decimal place).

However, as a form of constrained writing, Pilish was taken to an extreme by the American mathematician Mike Keith in his 1996 short story Cadaeic Cadenza, which comprises 3835 words all following the decimal sequence of pi (0s are words 10 letters long).

As if that weren’t mindboggling enough, in 2010 Keith published the novella Not A Wake which pushed that total to 10,000. Check it out here.

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What schools can expect from Ofsted this term

Ofsted has returned to a full programme of inspections this term for the first time since the onset of the Covid crisis in March last year.

The NAHT union has produced new guidance to its members about what to expect if and when schools get the call.   This covers – when schools will be inspected, how leaders can show Covid impact, and how sexual harassment claims will be treated.

To read a summary of this guidance published by TES, click here.

If you would like to discuss how to your academy school or trust might optimally plan for an Ofsted Inspection (or indeed, have a basic and more general chat about what I do) please contact me at jack@jackminto.com or on 017514 499238 for a preliminary discussion.