Teach Sleep Repeat

Toxic schools. If you don't work in one, then you've definitely at least heard the horror stories. Teaching is a job full of stress. Poor leadership, micro-managing and embedded expectations to sink massive amount of your own time just make things worse. In this episode, we reflect on some real-life examples of how schools become toxic, what a bad culture looks like, and how choices at the...

It's time for the OFFICIAL* top 5 reasons that teacher recruitment and retention is in a dire state in England. *not actually official and just our opinion In this episode, we speculate on five particular elements of the career which we think are contributing the most to teachers quitting at an alarming rate! Fun fact: in 2022, 12.8% of newly qualified teachers quit within their first year... Join...

Every single teacher in the country knows the impact of *that call*. We reflect on our recent Ofsted inspection in detail & give valuable insight to the procedure and what we experienced as maths leads involved in a maths deep dive. Whether you work in a school who are due an inspection or just want to know what the process involves, this is a must listen episode! If you have any questions about t...

Welcome back! It's been an extremely eventful couple of weeks. Dylan became a dad! And Hayden is not far behind... We also had OFSTED in this week, and they deep dived our subject: maths. We'll be going into a lot more detail on this in a future episode, so stick around! I think it's safe to say we lose the plot in this episode. Dylan's childhood tales have Hayden pretty much in tears of laughter....

Join us for a particularly special episode in which we share some awesome news with you: our much-loved customers! I mean audience... Besides our BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS, we get weirdly deep and discuss self-diagnoses, religion and perform impressions of the Tasmanian Devil... I'm not sure what to say really. It's an odd one. Hopefully by the end you'll understand exactly why! We also host a...

We all remember our favourite teaching assistants from when we went to school. They are the glue that holds things together and are an amazing support system not only for students, but teachers too. We talk about the role, how it’s being squeezed , and the slow transformation of the role into something that is paid extremely little but with more and more responsibility piled on. We also have a few...

Helllllloooooooo again and welcome back to another episode of Teach, Sleep, Repeat! We are keeping the face-to-face podcasts AND we genuinely think this is one of our funniest episodes yet. Get ready for a whirlwind tour of Hayden's latest stag do adventures, Dylan's Harvest Festival song game (pure laughter) and our good old chat answering the question posed in the title of this podcast.....

Join sweaty messes Dylan and Hayden for the second instalment of 'recording a podcast together in a tiny room' We discuss how we're banned from working in the same year group, our general classroom banter and our opinions on children's behaviour. How much impact does school really have on a child's behaviour? Thank you for listening or watching. We love our loyal customers. We...

New school year = New season! We are back after a week off and we are actually together in person! We talk about the start to the school year, moving house on the last day of the summer holidays, and discuss an email from a listener who is already disgruntled! Oh and the small matter of a whole bunch of schools potentially about to collapse... Thank you for listening or watching. We hope you enjoy...

The start of the new school year is just around the corner and we are super excited to get back teaching! We talk about all of our favourite top tips for stepping back onto the crazy rollercoaster ride that is Term 1 as a teacher. This covers everything from how to build relationships with your new class, looking after yourself and setting really high expectations (and how to stick to them)! We al...

The indisputable rise of teachers posting content on TikTok is causing heated online debate. From setting unrealistic expectations, to sometimes being an outright safeguarding issue, we discuss the topic in depth. - Does it encourage 'bad' teaching practice? - Are inexperienced staff having the bar set too high? - Should we ever be posting content including children online? - Should person...

Every teacher has heard it all before when it comes to the 13 weeks 'off' a year that we get. It's used as a stick to beat us with, to justify tonnes of extra work and (even though we are in a retention crisis) a reason as to why our job is 'easy'. So why do so many teachers struggle with the 6 week break? Why would some rather see it scrapped altogether? What are the pros and...

Lee Parkinson (A.K.A. Mr P) is a hugely popular primary school teacher who has grown a huge online following through offering training courses to school staff, creating funny education related memes & hosting an award-winning podcast with his brother (2 Mr Ps in a Podcast). Lee sat down with us to chat about all things 'ICT with Mr P' and how the decade long slog got him to where he is...

The summer holidays are in full swing and we are carrying on with weekly episodes of the podcast! This week, Hayden takes the lead and is in complete control... And he wants to probe and find our more about Dylan's appearance (and win!) on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire a couple of years ago. We also talk about an end of year quiz we put on for out colleagues and share with you guys a 'Fami...

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode! This week, we had the pleasure of sitting down to chat with Rob Smith (the founder of Literacy Shed). Rob's insight into his career path and what led him to building one of the most successful and widely used educational website subscriptions for schools. Rob is funny, interesting and honest. We hope you enjoy this wide-ranging chat as much a...

The school year is (basically) over (for most people...)! This week, we have a chat about the end of the school year, and all of the mayhem that comes with Summer 2 (the last half-term before the summer holidays). We talk about how 'winding down' is a massive myth, reflect on transition day with our new classes & Hayden even has another of his weekly bird-inspired stories. We can't...

The longest EVER episode of Teach Sleep Repeat is here and ready for you to devour! We speak to Emily Weston (primaryteachew on Twitter) about a LOT of different topics. Emily has a passion for reading, teaches a mixed year 5/6 class and worked in a secondary school as a transition teacher, helping year 6 children make the huge leap to secondary school. We talk about everything from controversial...

Our first ever podcast episode was called "Why Are Teachers Striking?" and we released it back in February. Fast forward almost half a year and teachers are STILL striking. Why? Is it justified? Should strikes affect things like sports day, transition days, end of school performances? What effect is the cost of living having on the profession? Buckle in for a ranty one! Please get in tou...

Another week, another episode, another guest! We are with the brilliant Gareth Metcalfe and chat about all things maths. Gareth is highly influential in the primary maths world and his resources (such as I See Reasoning and I See Problem Solving) are incredibly popular and well-respected across the country. Gareth is passionate about helping as many teachers deliver excellent maths to all pupils a...

Welcome back to another episode... Yes... It's just us two this week! We dive into the hot topic of using Artificial Intelligence as a teacher, especially in helping to write end of year reports. We did a BIG poll to find our teachers' opinions across the board and we look at both sides of the argument, before coming down strongly on one side. We loved this one, and hope you do to! You can...

Our first ever guest, Sophie Bartlett (better known as @_MissieBee on Twitter), joins us for a fascinating chat about all things teaching. Sophie has built up an impressive following online through sharing extremely helpful resources for teachers and standing up for what is right in education. We talk about the struggle of staying positive and going above and beyond in a system that feels constant...

Hayden is BACK from a residential trip last week which has inspired this week's topic. His ego is now as big as ever after an encounter he explains in this episode.... He's going to be unbearable for weeks! The boys also reflect on some training they recently had around the mental health of young people and discuss the frightening statistics around our children's wellbeing. We are alwa...

Dylan and Hayden reflect on working in a sector dominated by the opposite gender and the effects of this on their job. They reflect on the wider question of if it is a benefit or a hindrance and share anecdotes from their years of teaching. Just 15% of primary school teachers are male, but these statistics skew when looking at data for leadership positions. It's a really interesting chat and w...

The boys are back with a discussion on the Key Stage Two SATs which are currently underway. They talk about everything from why they were implemented in the first place to the effects they can have on school staff and children. As always, there's a 'stories from the classroom' segment to enjoy and we start off this week with a 'cool game!' as Hayden called it. For the first time, you can enjoy thi...

Welcome back! This week we talk about a lot . We touch on wellbeing, the curriculum, bad online influences, the power dynamic in the classroom and how other countries see education as a whole. As always, we round it off with a couple of stories from the classroom. If you want to get in touch with us for any reason, you can find us here: Instagram: teachsleeprepeatpodcast e-mail: teachsleeprepeatpo...