Hey there, Tappsters!
The prize draw continues! This month, one lucky Teacher Tapper will win a £500 grocery voucher.
Taking part is easy! All you need to do is tap! Read more about the details of the comp and see the full terms and conditions here.
We’ll share the winning ticket codes on our socials, and email the winners too.
Now, let’s find out what you have told us this week…
Staff briefings
If it is true there are two types of people: night owls and larks (though there is a case for the third category of permanently tired pigeons), then perhaps those morning people find the idea of a daily ‘staff shout’ a more appealing idea?
Either way, schools who gather their staff together to brief them every morning are very much in the minority, especially in primary schools.
Primary teachers are more likely to NOT have them at all when compared to secondary (49% vs 17%). Instead, it appears to be more of a weekly thing, with 43% of primary teachers and 48% of secondary teachers gathering staff in the mornings once a week.
Just 3% of primary teachers have to meet daily for a morning briefing and the number of primary teachers who do NOT have morning briefings has gone UP to 49% from 38% in 2019.
Over in secondary, again just small numbers meeting for a daily morning briefing (5%), and more secondaries have dropped morning meetings compared to previous years, 17% say they don’t have any at all, UP from 7% in 2019.
Is this a good move?
Over on Bluesky, these results provoked a lot of discussion…here are some of the comments Teacher Tappers made…
“Fun game for those in a staff briefing: write down a ballpark cost for the members of staff there, compare it to the cost of either a good calendar or an effective email, and weep gently into your coffee. Verbal briefings are CRAZY EXPENSIVE“
“Physical briefings are also very bad news for PT staff, especially if briefing day = not-in-school day. Some things have to be F2F, but in general… put it in an email. Please.”
But there were some fans of morning meetings!
“[We do them] Everyday at ours. Good for maintaining a team culture and keeping people informed. Once a week it’s a SIP briefing. Not operational, but quick 5 minute input on something from our SIP. How we are doing with it, where it’s going well and next steps.”
Join in the conversation by following us on Bluesky and sharing your thoughts!
How safe are roads around schools?
Accidents near schools remain a concern, with a dangerous mix of rushing children, busy traffic, and limited road awareness. But what traffic calming measures are in place to keep pupils safe?
The good news is that most schools have protections in place—and the numbers are rising.
Compared to two years ago, both primary and secondary teachers report small increases in speed restrictions, speed bumps, and parking controls.
- Permanent 20 MPH zones are now in 36% of primary schools (up from 28% in 2023) and 30% of secondary schools (up from 23%).
- Speed bumps have also increased, reaching 26% in primary schools (previously 23%) and 28% in secondary schools (up from 24%).
However, despite these improvements, some schools still lack any traffic calming measures. 16% of primary teachers and 20% of secondary teachers report no such protections outside their school—although this figure has decreased since last year.
While progress is being made, there’s still work to do in ensuring safe school surroundings for all pupils. With the rise in e-scooters and e-bikes adding to the risks on the road – will this data change over the next few years? If you have suggestions of more questions about road safety, please send them in!
Is it okay…
A Teacher Tapper got in touch and asked us to find this out…
We resently asked about what was acceptable to do when marking classwork: drink alcohol, or mark in a cafe. And then the same, but for marking test papers.
Of those who said it was never acceptable to drink alcohol when marking or mark in a cafe just 28% could say they have never done those things.
Word game addicts
Since the explosion of Wordle, there have been dozens of daily word games you can play on your phone – from Hardle, to Waffle, to Minute Cryptic…but how many teachers play these games? And which subjects are more likely to be playing them?
🇪🇸🇫🇷 Languages and maths teachers come out top! More than a third play either daily or weekly! (38% maths and 37% languages ).
EYFS and KS1 teachers are the least likely to play these games – but there are still a sizeable chunk getting in their daily Wordle, with 27% playing either daily or weekly.
Daily Reads
This week our most-read piece was a special freebie from Tes for Teacher Tappers – how did the steps taken by schools in lockdown help stop the spread of the virus.
Have you seen a great blog you think would make a great daily read? Let us know by emailing england@teachertapp.co.uk and we will check it out!
