Stuart Rowntree
@primarythink.bsky.social
Primary leader - teacher - writer.
Focused on curriculum, cognitive science, SEND and sustainable improvement - evidence first, people always.
Dad and husband. Autistic. Built by experience.
Focused on curriculum, cognitive science, SEND and sustainable improvement - evidence first, people always.
Dad and husband. Autistic. Built by experience.
Love this.
This reframing matters: for many pupils, ‘refusal’ is a capacity signal, not a character flaw.
The job is to map the cost drivers - sensory load, transitions, uncertainty - then reduce demand and rebuild tolerance, alongside attendance support, not instead of it.
This reframing matters: for many pupils, ‘refusal’ is a capacity signal, not a character flaw.
The job is to map the cost drivers - sensory load, transitions, uncertainty - then reduce demand and rebuild tolerance, alongside attendance support, not instead of it.
This is great from Canary SEND
Beyond “School Refusal”: What Happens When a Child’s Nervous System Says Enough
Rethinking Burnout, Attendance, and the Limits of Endurance
www.canarysend.co.uk/canarysendbl...
#burnout #neuroaffirming #monotropism
Beyond “School Refusal”: What Happens When a Child’s Nervous System Says Enough
Rethinking Burnout, Attendance, and the Limits of Endurance
www.canarysend.co.uk/canarysendbl...
#burnout #neuroaffirming #monotropism
Beyond School Refusal: Autistic Burnout in Children — canary SEND
Clinical research reveals non-attending autistic children show burnout, not refusal. Understanding the signs, recovery requirements, and SEND legal framework.
www.canarysend.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Love this.
This reframing matters: for many pupils, ‘refusal’ is a capacity signal, not a character flaw.
The job is to map the cost drivers - sensory load, transitions, uncertainty - then reduce demand and rebuild tolerance, alongside attendance support, not instead of it.
This reframing matters: for many pupils, ‘refusal’ is a capacity signal, not a character flaw.
The job is to map the cost drivers - sensory load, transitions, uncertainty - then reduce demand and rebuild tolerance, alongside attendance support, not instead of it.
Inclusive by design only works if it protects curriculum entitlement.
An inclusion base must be planned, time-limited and aimed at return-to-class learning, not quiet off-rolling. Fund staffing and training, not just rooms, and track minutes and outcomes per pupil.
An inclusion base must be planned, time-limited and aimed at return-to-class learning, not quiet off-rolling. Fund staffing and training, not just rooms, and track minutes and outcomes per pupil.
Brick by brick, we are building an education system where every child can achieve and thrive – including those with SEND.
Under Labour, schools will be inclusive by design.
My piece in @theipaper.com ✍️
inews.co.uk/news/politic...
Under Labour, schools will be inclusive by design.
My piece in @theipaper.com ✍️
inews.co.uk/news/politic...
Bridget Phillipson: Why all secondary schools need a safe space for SEND pupils
All our schools will be inclusive by design, says Education Secretary
inews.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Inclusive by design only works if it protects curriculum entitlement.
An inclusion base must be planned, time-limited and aimed at return-to-class learning, not quiet off-rolling. Fund staffing and training, not just rooms, and track minutes and outcomes per pupil.
An inclusion base must be planned, time-limited and aimed at return-to-class learning, not quiet off-rolling. Fund staffing and training, not just rooms, and track minutes and outcomes per pupil.
The system makes escalation easy - WhatsApp piles on, SEND is legally messy & AI churns out legal nonsense.
Make the process boring & predictable: clear stage gates, fast factual responses, firm boundaries, one channel, documented decisions & early relational repair where it’s actually possible.
Make the process boring & predictable: clear stage gates, fast factual responses, firm boundaries, one channel, documented decisions & early relational repair where it’s actually possible.
What’s behind the recent surge in parent complaints against schools? And what can be done to stop unnecessary complaints from taking up valuable staff time? @ellencph.bsky.social investigates
Why are schools getting more complaints than ever?
Headteachers are reporting a surge in complaints from parents. Ellen Peirson-Hagger explores the reasons for this and asks experts how the process could be made more manageable for overstretched school staff
www.tes.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:55 AM
The system makes escalation easy - WhatsApp piles on, SEND is legally messy & AI churns out legal nonsense.
Make the process boring & predictable: clear stage gates, fast factual responses, firm boundaries, one channel, documented decisions & early relational repair where it’s actually possible.
Make the process boring & predictable: clear stage gates, fast factual responses, firm boundaries, one channel, documented decisions & early relational repair where it’s actually possible.
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
I've published the next episode in my YouTube series on Getting your Class to Behave. This time I explore the idea of being flexible. Consistent standards - flexible ways of getting to them! I hope you find it useful.
youtu.be/JpFYRHuaPp8
youtu.be/JpFYRHuaPp8
Getting your Class to Behave: Episode Seven - Being Flexible
YouTube video by Sue Cowley
youtu.be
February 9, 2026 at 6:32 PM
I've published the next episode in my YouTube series on Getting your Class to Behave. This time I explore the idea of being flexible. Consistent standards - flexible ways of getting to them! I hope you find it useful.
youtu.be/JpFYRHuaPp8
youtu.be/JpFYRHuaPp8
The most useful professional language is the kind that changes what we do at 10:15 on a Tuesday, not what we write at 8pm on a Sunday.
But metaphors and models do leak into practice - sometimes they illuminate, sometimes they flatten.
What language have you found both precise and human?
But metaphors and models do leak into practice - sometimes they illuminate, sometimes they flatten.
What language have you found both precise and human?
February 9, 2026 at 6:00 PM
The most useful professional language is the kind that changes what we do at 10:15 on a Tuesday, not what we write at 8pm on a Sunday.
But metaphors and models do leak into practice - sometimes they illuminate, sometimes they flatten.
What language have you found both precise and human?
But metaphors and models do leak into practice - sometimes they illuminate, sometimes they flatten.
What language have you found both precise and human?
That’s exactly it.
When a routine becomes a proxy for accountability, it turns into performative theatre - time spent proving we’re doing the work, rather than doing it. I actively despise this.
The best checks give you new information and a clear next step. If not, it’s just friction.
When a routine becomes a proxy for accountability, it turns into performative theatre - time spent proving we’re doing the work, rather than doing it. I actively despise this.
The best checks give you new information and a clear next step. If not, it’s just friction.
Regular folder checks with Y12/13. Just turned into something that made it look like there was some accountability but it was all superficial and probably just wasted more lesson time rather than genuinely benefitting learning, or telling me anything I didn't know.
February 9, 2026 at 5:25 PM
That’s exactly it.
When a routine becomes a proxy for accountability, it turns into performative theatre - time spent proving we’re doing the work, rather than doing it. I actively despise this.
The best checks give you new information and a clear next step. If not, it’s just friction.
When a routine becomes a proxy for accountability, it turns into performative theatre - time spent proving we’re doing the work, rather than doing it. I actively despise this.
The best checks give you new information and a clear next step. If not, it’s just friction.
Love this - the “discarded rock” line is very real.
For me, the tell is when a routine stops sharpening judgement and starts producing artefacts.
When it’s more polishing the lens than seeing through it, it’s noise.
For me, the tell is when a routine stops sharpening judgement and starts producing artefacts.
When it’s more polishing the lens than seeing through it, it’s noise.
I will mix 2 metaphors.
The sculptor chiselling away at the rock to reveal the statue within and lenses.
I have discarded a mountain of rock to chisel a thousand different lenses, some more powerful than others, all in different stages of refinement.
Every routine has taught me something.
The sculptor chiselling away at the rock to reveal the statue within and lenses.
I have discarded a mountain of rock to chisel a thousand different lenses, some more powerful than others, all in different stages of refinement.
Every routine has taught me something.
February 9, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Love this - the “discarded rock” line is very real.
For me, the tell is when a routine stops sharpening judgement and starts producing artefacts.
When it’s more polishing the lens than seeing through it, it’s noise.
For me, the tell is when a routine stops sharpening judgement and starts producing artefacts.
When it’s more polishing the lens than seeing through it, it’s noise.
What’s a routine you’ve stopped doing because it was noise, not impact?
February 9, 2026 at 7:51 AM
What’s a routine you’ve stopped doing because it was noise, not impact?
We keep treating overload as a delivery problem.
It isn’t.
When everything is prioritised, nothing is learned deeply. Curriculum quality isn’t about coverage – it’s about what we deliberately choose not to include.
This isn’t ideology. It’s a capacity issue.
It isn’t.
When everything is prioritised, nothing is learned deeply. Curriculum quality isn’t about coverage – it’s about what we deliberately choose not to include.
This isn’t ideology. It’s a capacity issue.
February 8, 2026 at 5:30 PM
We keep treating overload as a delivery problem.
It isn’t.
When everything is prioritised, nothing is learned deeply. Curriculum quality isn’t about coverage – it’s about what we deliberately choose not to include.
This isn’t ideology. It’s a capacity issue.
It isn’t.
When everything is prioritised, nothing is learned deeply. Curriculum quality isn’t about coverage – it’s about what we deliberately choose not to include.
This isn’t ideology. It’s a capacity issue.
Citizenship matters. But the issue isn’t fitting it in – it’s that the primary curriculum is already bloated.
Adding more content without removing anything just stretches attention thinner.
If it’s a bolt-on, it fails. If it replaces something, we should say what.
Adding more content without removing anything just stretches attention thinner.
If it’s a bolt-on, it fails. If it replaces something, we should say what.
Citizenship education is to become mandatory in primary schools. But how realistic is it to expect schools to fit a wide-ranging subject into an already-busy timetable?
Can citizenship be squeezed into a 'bursting' primary curriculum?
Citizenship education is to become mandatory in primary schools. But how realistic is it to expect schools to fit a subject ranging from law to finances and media literacy into an already-busy…
www.tes.com
February 8, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Citizenship matters. But the issue isn’t fitting it in – it’s that the primary curriculum is already bloated.
Adding more content without removing anything just stretches attention thinner.
If it’s a bolt-on, it fails. If it replaces something, we should say what.
Adding more content without removing anything just stretches attention thinner.
If it’s a bolt-on, it fails. If it replaces something, we should say what.
1)
I’ve learned I function best with fewer signals and clearer edges.
For my autism, that isn’t an aesthetic preference so much as regulation – reducing noise so thinking and judgement can settle.
I’ve learned I function best with fewer signals and clearer edges.
For my autism, that isn’t an aesthetic preference so much as regulation – reducing noise so thinking and judgement can settle.
February 8, 2026 at 5:09 PM
1)
I’ve learned I function best with fewer signals and clearer edges.
For my autism, that isn’t an aesthetic preference so much as regulation – reducing noise so thinking and judgement can settle.
I’ve learned I function best with fewer signals and clearer edges.
For my autism, that isn’t an aesthetic preference so much as regulation – reducing noise so thinking and judgement can settle.
Increasingly, our public arguments aren’t about policy or pedagogy so much as trust – who we think is acting in good faith.
We personalise failure, even when people are carrying complexity without the conditions to sustain it.
The harder work is rebuilding those conditions.
We personalise failure, even when people are carrying complexity without the conditions to sustain it.
The harder work is rebuilding those conditions.
February 8, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Increasingly, our public arguments aren’t about policy or pedagogy so much as trust – who we think is acting in good faith.
We personalise failure, even when people are carrying complexity without the conditions to sustain it.
The harder work is rebuilding those conditions.
We personalise failure, even when people are carrying complexity without the conditions to sustain it.
The harder work is rebuilding those conditions.
Starmer's statement on McSweeney is weak.
You can’t praise someone’s judgement, loyalty and central role in leadership for years, then treat their departure as a clean severing of responsibility.
If this was a failure of judgement, it didn’t start or end with one adviser.
You can’t praise someone’s judgement, loyalty and central role in leadership for years, then treat their departure as a clean severing of responsibility.
If this was a failure of judgement, it didn’t start or end with one adviser.
February 8, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Starmer's statement on McSweeney is weak.
You can’t praise someone’s judgement, loyalty and central role in leadership for years, then treat their departure as a clean severing of responsibility.
If this was a failure of judgement, it didn’t start or end with one adviser.
You can’t praise someone’s judgement, loyalty and central role in leadership for years, then treat their departure as a clean severing of responsibility.
If this was a failure of judgement, it didn’t start or end with one adviser.
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
Presumably it will have to be an internal appointment to replace McSweeney because no one will give up an external job to work for a PM so clearly on the edge himself.
February 8, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Presumably it will have to be an internal appointment to replace McSweeney because no one will give up an external job to work for a PM so clearly on the edge himself.
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
As a headteacher, sometimes you can feel overwhelmed with how much you have to do. We must remember to focus on and complete one thing. Then we have made progress.
February 8, 2026 at 2:30 PM
As a headteacher, sometimes you can feel overwhelmed with how much you have to do. We must remember to focus on and complete one thing. Then we have made progress.
We’re treating social media like a moral failing rather than an infrastructure substitute.
When young people have no safe, low-cost third spaces, the phone becomes the youth club, the park and the bus pass.
If we restrict that, we need to replace it with real-world belonging, not just rules.
When young people have no safe, low-cost third spaces, the phone becomes the youth club, the park and the bus pass.
If we restrict that, we need to replace it with real-world belonging, not just rules.
Kids can't hang out in parks. They can't hang out at the mall. They don't have 3rd spaces because no one wants kids around and then we are surprised when they rely on SM for connection.
If you take that away, what do they have left?
If you take that away, what do they have left?
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
The impacts of locking under 16 yos from their social media networks are now beginning to bite for those young people who relied on them for social connection
The impacts of locking under 16 yos from their social media networks are now beginning to bite for those young people who relied on them for social connection
February 8, 2026 at 10:05 AM
We’re treating social media like a moral failing rather than an infrastructure substitute.
When young people have no safe, low-cost third spaces, the phone becomes the youth club, the park and the bus pass.
If we restrict that, we need to replace it with real-world belonging, not just rules.
When young people have no safe, low-cost third spaces, the phone becomes the youth club, the park and the bus pass.
If we restrict that, we need to replace it with real-world belonging, not just rules.
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
Whenever there is organisational misbehaviour, there is someone who excused it. It’s banter. Or they grew up in a different era. Or people are just too sensitive. Or they really didn’t mean it like that. Or that’s just how they are and you should just ignore it.
1/
1/
February 6, 2026 at 6:24 AM
Whenever there is organisational misbehaviour, there is someone who excused it. It’s banter. Or they grew up in a different era. Or people are just too sensitive. Or they really didn’t mean it like that. Or that’s just how they are and you should just ignore it.
1/
1/
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
The friendship here depicts something that our culture usually finds very difficult to imagine: an image of straight masculinity that is actually lovely.
Twinless: a sweet, funny and uplifting portrayal of male friendship
The friendship here depicts something that our culture usually finds very difficult to imagine: an image of straight masculinity that is actually lovely.
tcnv.link
February 6, 2026 at 6:26 AM
The friendship here depicts something that our culture usually finds very difficult to imagine: an image of straight masculinity that is actually lovely.
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
Decades of under investment have weakened our schools - and that weakens the whole country.
We need real funding & care for education now.
Here's my conversation with the General Secretary of the National Education Union @danielkebedeneu.bsky.social 👇🏼
youtu.be/MD-wBnLxOsM?...
We need real funding & care for education now.
Here's my conversation with the General Secretary of the National Education Union @danielkebedeneu.bsky.social 👇🏼
youtu.be/MD-wBnLxOsM?...
What Happens When You Underfund Education | Daniel Kebede | Zack Polanski
YouTube video by Bold Politics with Zack Polanski
youtu.be
February 5, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Decades of under investment have weakened our schools - and that weakens the whole country.
We need real funding & care for education now.
Here's my conversation with the General Secretary of the National Education Union @danielkebedeneu.bsky.social 👇🏼
youtu.be/MD-wBnLxOsM?...
We need real funding & care for education now.
Here's my conversation with the General Secretary of the National Education Union @danielkebedeneu.bsky.social 👇🏼
youtu.be/MD-wBnLxOsM?...
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
Schools can’t provide what children need without proper funding.
Our indicative ballot is a chance to show the government we will not stop until we #SaveEducation. Enough is enough.
Get ballot ready here 👉 NEUActivate.com
Our indicative ballot is a chance to show the government we will not stop until we #SaveEducation. Enough is enough.
Get ballot ready here 👉 NEUActivate.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Schools can’t provide what children need without proper funding.
Our indicative ballot is a chance to show the government we will not stop until we #SaveEducation. Enough is enough.
Get ballot ready here 👉 NEUActivate.com
Our indicative ballot is a chance to show the government we will not stop until we #SaveEducation. Enough is enough.
Get ballot ready here 👉 NEUActivate.com
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
📣 Calling leaders from state primary schools: can you help us better understand the impact of offsite PPA on teacher retention?
1️⃣ Are you a leader in a state primary school?
2️⃣ Does your school usually expect teachers to stay onsite during their PPA time?
We're recruiting for an exciting trial exploring the impact of offsite PPA.
Register your interest: https://office.pulse.ly/dt6hj2xmgu
@theeef.bsky.social
2️⃣ Does your school usually expect teachers to stay onsite during their PPA time?
We're recruiting for an exciting trial exploring the impact of offsite PPA.
Register your interest: https://office.pulse.ly/dt6hj2xmgu
@theeef.bsky.social
February 5, 2026 at 5:34 PM
📣 Calling leaders from state primary schools: can you help us better understand the impact of offsite PPA on teacher retention?
Extreme wealth concentration is a design flaw, sustained by red tape written by those who benefit from it.
When policy exists mainly to protect elites from correction, that’s not democracy under strain – it’s institutional decay.
When policy exists mainly to protect elites from correction, that’s not democracy under strain – it’s institutional decay.
The 50 wealthiest families in the UK own more than 34 million people combined.
That level of inequality is totally unsustainable.
A wealth tax isn’t radical - it’s inevitable. And the Green Party will keep making the case.
That level of inequality is totally unsustainable.
A wealth tax isn’t radical - it’s inevitable. And the Green Party will keep making the case.
February 5, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Extreme wealth concentration is a design flaw, sustained by red tape written by those who benefit from it.
When policy exists mainly to protect elites from correction, that’s not democracy under strain – it’s institutional decay.
When policy exists mainly to protect elites from correction, that’s not democracy under strain – it’s institutional decay.
I want to spend more time here – sharing ideas, testing thoughts & allowing for genuine discourse.
I miss the collegiate exchange that sharpens thinking rather than dilutes it.
It takes a little more effort, but it’s worth it. It's purposeful & more prescient than wading through noise elsewhere.
I miss the collegiate exchange that sharpens thinking rather than dilutes it.
It takes a little more effort, but it’s worth it. It's purposeful & more prescient than wading through noise elsewhere.
February 5, 2026 at 5:17 PM
I want to spend more time here – sharing ideas, testing thoughts & allowing for genuine discourse.
I miss the collegiate exchange that sharpens thinking rather than dilutes it.
It takes a little more effort, but it’s worth it. It's purposeful & more prescient than wading through noise elsewhere.
I miss the collegiate exchange that sharpens thinking rather than dilutes it.
It takes a little more effort, but it’s worth it. It's purposeful & more prescient than wading through noise elsewhere.
Reposted by Stuart Rowntree
Feedback can make lessons look slick or it can make learning more durable. It can’t do both at once.
When feedback is immediate, performance improves but understanding often doesn’t. When we delay, reduce & summarise students are forced to think, judge & remember. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
When feedback is immediate, performance improves but understanding often doesn’t. When we delay, reduce & summarise students are forced to think, judge & remember. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
The feedback continuum: why reducing feedback helps students learn
Paul Kirschner recently published this post on reducing feedback.
open.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Feedback can make lessons look slick or it can make learning more durable. It can’t do both at once.
When feedback is immediate, performance improves but understanding often doesn’t. When we delay, reduce & summarise students are forced to think, judge & remember. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
When feedback is immediate, performance improves but understanding often doesn’t. When we delay, reduce & summarise students are forced to think, judge & remember. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
I do find myself considering the wider implications for staffing and funding. In reality, many of the challenges in education are shaped less by intent or ambition than by the practical limits of resource. Capacity, training and long-term sustainability are all mediated by availability of funding.
The government’s new internal suspension guidance has the potential to do something rare in education policy – ‘raise standards of behaviour while strengthening inclusion', explains this headteacher
Internal suspensions guidance boosts headteacher autonomy
Amid claims that government guidance is watering down school leaders’ powers, head Sophia Haughton says the opposite is actually the case
www.tes.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:51 AM
I do find myself considering the wider implications for staffing and funding. In reality, many of the challenges in education are shaped less by intent or ambition than by the practical limits of resource. Capacity, training and long-term sustainability are all mediated by availability of funding.