1. At Charter we stripped back as much as we could. We focussed on creating a culture of genuine mutual respect, adults became behaviour teachers, adults felt supported, consistency grew, we really focussed on relationships. We established a house style in terms of teaching. https://twitter.com/stoneman_claire/status/1264213947353305089

2. We used same language, deliberately developed a ‘we’re on the same team’, ‘this is how we support each other’ message. Lots of drop ins & modelling. A very human approach, recognising that we’re all fallible and doing best we know how, whilst recognising need to improve.

3. We talked a lot, and lived by, an attitude of gratitude. We’d tell kids how much we loved working with them & each other. We reminded them, ‘your teachers words are gold dust’. The streams of visitors gave kids huge pride. We taught kids how to be confident, polite & at ease.

4. In lessons, starts became slick, as were endings & activity transitions. Copious, authentic praise. Picky in terms of quality of oral answers & engagement. ‘No hiding place’ became a mantra, as did ‘every second counts’. Lots of count downs to keep energy high & keep momentum.

5. Chanting at lesson starts & ends, as kids packed away, stood behind chairs, readied themselves. Value of every second promulgated. Pride in knowledge & memory became the normal. Whole school poetry recitation - even in corridors between lessons - built esprit de corps.

6. SHAPE - full SENTENCES, HANDS away from face, no mumbling ARTICULATE, ‘university voice’ PROJECTION, confident ‘EYE CONTACT’ became the norm but also opportunities to catch kids being exemplary.

7. No fads, fashions, gimmicks, games. Proudly didactic teaching, from booklets. Teachers encouraged to record themselves, improve their delivery, become more ‘precise & concise’, to identify the key knowledge they wanted pupils to retain in long term memory.

8. Focus on memory, recycling, precision teaching meant kids quickly felt accomplished. As did adults. Drop ins helped lots, being able to drop into others lessons, including mine, helped build sense of purpose.

9. Results doubled, visitors were blown away, an inspector 6 months in described us as an miraculous turnaround’. But our sense of conviction & self as ‘Charter’ meant that, whilst approval of others was nice, team didn’t need it. They believed in the direction of travel.

10. Simplicity, common sense, informality in terms of hierarchy, but meticulous attention to detail where it had most impact, that was the ‘glue’. Always mindful of opportunity cost, return on investment, cost/benefit, trade offs. Welfare of staff at the fore.