From Trust-Wide Leadership to Classroom Lesson Design with Tom Isherwood

What happens when you’ve spent nearly two decades thinking hard about maths, taught in one school for most of your career, and then suddenly find yourself shaping maths teaching across more than 30 schools in a trust?

That’s exactly the journey my guest, Tom Isherwood, has been on. Tom is the Lead Practitioner for Maths at the Flying High Trust, as well as Assistant Maths Hub Lead with East Midlands West. In short, he’s seen it all: from lesson design in a single classroom to supporting schools through 20 Ofsted inspections in one year.

In this episode, Tom and I get stuck into:

• Why lesson design is about thinking not templates, and how planning one lesson for two hours can transform every lesson that follows
• The power of collaborative planning and why teachers clutch those “magic bean” lesson plans like gold dust
• How to balance consistency across a trust with giving teachers genuine autonomy
• Why the “I do, we do, you do” model makes Tom nervous (and what he suggests instead)
• The secret weapon of maths teaching that every school should invest in (hint: it’s not a new scheme of work)
• How to prepare for Ofsted without losing the soul of your maths curriculum
• And what it really means to be “up to something” as a maths leader

We also manage to squeeze in conversations about Shanghai exchanges, the joy of coloured pens, and why the number 27 is the most three-ish number of them all.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, a maths lead, or a leader of leaders, this episode will give you practical insights, some healthy challenges to your current thinking, and a reminder of why lesson design matters more than any single scheme or structure.

Tune in, reflect, and maybe rethink your next maths lesson plan.

Get in touch: primarymathspodcast@twinkl.co.uk

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