Ben Newmark

This speech was given to Harris Westminster Sixth Form on Friday 9th October 2026. … Thank you for having me.

As a young teacher, I used copying as a classroom management technique.

When teachers first begin teaching, lots of errors are immediately noticeable and correctable.

Last year at a conference someone said to me they’d noticed I’d stopped writing as much.

As a trainee and in CPD in the early part of my career, I don’t remember anyone ever using evidence to justify anything.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield once said, “there is no problem so bad that you can’t make it worse.”

Saying the SEND system is in crisis is no great reveal; it is proving ruinously expensive while failing to deliver either improved experiences or outcomes.

Two years ago, at a conference I described the process my wife and I went through to get our daughter her EHCP.

Conversations about special educational needs are already tough and I predict they are about to get even more difficult.

A few years ago, in the Golden Era of Edu-Twitter, Berny Andrews and I suggested the Department of Education needed a team of philosophers.

In 1429 a French peasant with no military experience led an army against the Anglo-Burgundians, driving them from their bastion and forcing them to retreat across the Loire River.