Working with Boys by Andrew Hampton

Andrew Hampton is an experienced Head Teacher who has taught PSHE for many years. He produced an approach to supporting girls’ friendships called ‘Girls on Board’ (I wasn’t aware of it so pass no judgement on its success). In this book he turns his attention to boys. He explores a range of issues relating to

When Parents Change Everything Changes by Paul Dix

All teachers have significant pastoral responsibility and I have thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of my work. Indeed, I was promoted to a pastoral leadership position within a couple of years of starting my career so have always had increased responsibility for behaviour management. The ideas of Paul Dix have been the best at capturing my

After the Adults Change – Achieving Behaviour Nirvana by Paul Dix

I thoroughly enjoyed Paul Dix’s first book, When Adults Change Everything Changes. It chimed with my own experience as a pastoral leader and as a classroom teacher. I have always been a big advocate of a positive relationship approach to behaviour management. Recent developments, including a growing insight into Adverse Childhood Experiences and trauma informed

The Psychology of Great Teaching by Pedro de Bruyckere, Casper Hulshof and Liese Missinne

This was the third book I chose to read as I prepared to start a new job in education, albeit out of school and focusing on assessment. I re-read Daisy Christodoulou’s excellent Making Good Progress and the new book from Hendrick, Kirschner and Heal. Having thoroughly enjoyed the clarity and rigour of both I was

The Running the Room Companion by Tom Bennett

I thoroughly enjoyed Running the Room. It pulled together Bennett’s excellent work on behaviour in one place. I felt it would become the go to book on behaviour and would sit alongside I, Partridge in the Excellent Footnotes (EF) section of all good book shops. This companion book introduces itself as a collection of the

Running the Room by Tom Bennett

I will start with the easy stuff. This is an outstanding book. It included the greatest use of footnotes since I, Partridge. Perhaps more importantly it was clear, thorough, humorous and empathetic. I fully expect it to become the ‘go-to’ book for behaviour. During the summer I was looking for a summary of Bennett’s behaviour

The Explosive Child by Ross Greene

I think this book was referenced in Jarlath O’Brien’s recent book. It is a book aimed at parents of children with extremely challenging and inflexible behaviour. It outlines an approach around problem solving with the children (it was written in-depth including scripts to exemplify the ideas). Although it was quite intensive it seemed sensible. It

Leading Better Behaviour by Jarlath O’Brien

I am a big fan of Jarlath O’Brien’s writing on behaviour. He is a leader of a special school and consults and writes on behaviour. I first encountered him in a book called Don’t Send him in Tomoorrow which were his reflections on all aspects of life in special schools but I loved the chapter

Boys Don’t Try? Rethinking Masculinity in Schools by Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts

This was another book that popped up a lot on my Twitter timeline. It covers an area of great interest to me pastorally- how can we get the best out of boys. It focused on a question that regularly pops up- is masculinity toxic? The book itself was nicely written. Each chapter generally started with

The Silent Guide by Prof Steve Peters

I enjoyed reading The Chimp Paradox and was excited to hear that Prof Peters had written a follow-up. Chris Evans was raving about it on Radio 2 and it had clearly grabbed people’s attention. When the book arrived, I flew through it. What I most enjoyed was its focus on positive, nurturing relationships based on