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Everyone in education’s thoughts this week are with the family, friends and colleagues of Ruth Perry, the Reading headteacher who took her own life in January. No one at this stage can know the thoughts that were in Ruth’s head at the time and it would be completely wrong to speculate.

We would like to offer our deepest sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of Ruth Perry.

The latest tranche of messages between Matt Hancock and Gavin Williamson shows a shocking disregard for teachers and children. School leaders suffered from a lack of clear direction from the DfE during the pandemic. School leaders, teachers and all staff worked incredibly hard to educate children and young people, and to keep them safe. Today, teachers and young people are still suffering from the effects of the pandemic. Our teachers deserve respect for the incredible work they do.

Peter Drucker, the management consultant, author and educator, is quoted as saying “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. You may have heard this phrase before, but culture can be difficult to pin down.

The key issues relating to teacher recruitment and retention were considered by our CEO Sue Williamson and Professor John Howson in a conversation last term. It is significant that teachers are striking for better working conditions due to a perceived crisis in education, a crisis of teacher retention most likely linked to low morale and high workload. A large number of teachers don’t stay beyond the five-year mark according to DfE figures.

After more than 24 years, Marva Rollins OBE retired from her role as headteacher in 2019. Marva now uses her wealth of experience of leading schools to support school leaders in schools in challenging circumstances.

Bethan Morgan is an Assistant Headteacher at Pate’s Grammar School who leads on Co-curricular and Inclusivity. A geography specialist, Bethan is in her fifth year of teaching.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced a £130m scheme to provide all London primary aged pupils with free schools meals during the 2023/24 academic year. The plan, which will provide a lunchtime meal to around 270,000 pupils across the capital, will save families around £440 per child across the year at a time when living costs are increasingly challenging.

School attendance has obviously had a strange few years. For many months attendance became about being present online – a face in a sea of boxes on screen. Teachers reacted creatively and skilfully, high quality learning was delivered against the odds. New approaches were developed, many of which have continued rightly to shape practice now that we can be together again in real life.

Alex Galvin reflects on Dr Rankin’s ‘three ages of learning’ and the impact of AI for educators. The blog outlines the different ways educational institutions are already responding to AI. Is co-construction with students the way forward?