It is now a few weeks since this year's Historical Association Conference. As ever, the whole thing was a challenging, thought provoking, and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Although I didn't get to go to quite as many sessions this year, due to presenting, those I did attend were excellent. I would just like to thank the HA for all their hard work in putting this together.

I have linked a whole range of notes from the conference here - please excuse my spelling though, I haven't actually checked these through fully yet!!

NB. A full set of all my past conference and session notes is available HERE or by clicking the folder icon below.

Please bear in mind that these are very much work in progress, but I am attaching my outline plans for two more 2014 KS3 units: the Reformation and the French Revolution. Any comments would be appreciated. I have also added a new 2014 KS3 files section to the top bar so you can get resources easily.

"Money it's a crime. Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie." So sang Pink Floyd on their 1973 classic, Dark Side of the Moon. So what has got me to thinking about money this week? Well two things really: let me elaborate. 

Yesterday I received my budget for the 2014-15 school year. I run a large department with over 260 GCSE and 100 A Level historians as well as a good number studying government and politics. Now, thanks to a range of issues, including falling rolls, and the general squeeze on education at the moment, my budget for next year has been reduced by nearly 30% from last year's figures. With this kind of cash, I worked out that I would barley be able to cover the costs of my photocopying (which has been growing exponentially as our dwindling stocks textbooks, most dating back to the mid 1990s or earlier disappear into the ether) and materials. After some reflection, I was left puzzling quite how I was going to make ends meet. 

The second trigger for my thoughts was reading the following tweet on the DfE Twitter feed, in which one academy head  was quoted as saying: