"What should an excellent KS3 offer every young person?" that is the question that the KS3 Alliance is inviting the education community and young people themselves to help answer through a national call for evidence of effective practice and approaches that have not worked, a pupil survey to look at pupil experience of early secondary and regional roadshows. The KS3 Alliance is a sector-led initiative that was formally launched in September 2026 at the House of Lords. It is b

Last night I attended a webinar with Mary Myatt and Catherine Priggs on The Ambitious Years which gave me another opportunity to reflect on just how important KS3 really is. Mary’s description of KS3 as the “intellectual powerhouse of secondary education” is a powerful one. It has stuck with me since I first read her book "KS3 - The Ambitious Years" from cover to cover in a couple of days back in June. As Mary highlights years 7-9 should be far more than a waiting room befor

Reading Steve Willshaw’s new book prompted me to consider reading aloud as part of pupils’ intellectual entitlement and its place within an ambitious KS3 curriculum.