It’s been a while since I last posted. I’d like to say I’ve been busy, but it would be a lie. Like most of Britain, I’ve become a couch-potato because of the Olympic Games. (I thought the aspiration was to get us all off our couches, but there you go). There’s been a great deal of media talk about what London 2012 says about us as a nation. As you might expect, I’m more interested in how the way the country has organised, and responded to, the Olympics offers some lessons to how we might improve schooling. It’s not such …

I came across a great example of a student using blogging to improve her writing skills, and raise awareness of school nutrition at the same time. Martha Payne (her Dad advised her to use a pseudonym, ‘veg’, but since she’s had her picture splashed all over the papers, there’s not much point in anonymity) is 9 years old and lives in Lochgilhpead, in Scotland. She has ambitions to become a journalist, so was encouraged by her father to start a blog on her schools dinners. NeverSeconds features a daily report on what she had fur lunch, complete with photo, ratings, …