Classroom Connect

Join Ian Rockey and Andrew Tidswell with special guest Matt Stringer (CEO of the Education Showroom) and  as they explore the human stories behind school leaders' search for the right tools, resources and solutions. The discussion continues in this third part by exploring funding streams to help ensure schools can access the support they need and how this can then be used effectively to support school improvement and access to the best solutions for their needs.

Join Ian Rockey and Andrew Tidswell with special guest Matt Stringer (CEO of the Education Showroom) and  as they explore the human stories behind school leaders' search for the right tools, resources and solutions. In this second part the discussion turns to budget challenges and the sorts of solutions available to schools to help ensure they can access the tools they need whilst being mindful of cost effectiveness and value for money.

Join Ian Rockey and Andrew Tidswell with special guest Matt Stringer (CEO of the Education Showroom) and  as they explore the human stories behind school leaders' search for the right tools, resources and solutions. From pinpointing SEND needs and numeracy interventions to easing teacher workload with AI and wellbeing strategies, this episode follows real conversations and real decisions that shape classrooms. Listen as Matt explains how his team acts as a free, school-led matchmaker — hunting down precise solutions, from translation services and micro-tracking for SEND progress to safeguarding, and how timing across the academic year drives different needs. 

Step into a lively podcast conversation where Nicky Smith walks Ian and Andrew through the moments where a teacher turns raw numbers into real change. From the first glance at RAG-coloured mastery maps to the small, decisive interventions that follow, this episode traces how a classroom dashboard becomes a guidebook for everyday teaching choices.
Nicki shares practical scenarios which showcases how teachers can spot gaps, assign targeted work, and use analysis tools to check what really needs reteaching. 
She also discusses the human side of data: quick wins, collaborative planning with support staff, and the reassurance that technology can be a steady partner in learning, not an extra chore.
Please email us with your questions, ideas or suggestions at classroomconnect@discoveryed.com  

Classroom Connect welcomes special guest Nicki Smith, our Insight Manager, to reveal the story behind the numbers. In conversation with Ian and Andrew, Nikki walks us through how the teacher’s homepage becomes a map of progress, motivation and success—how badges, stars and the 'green zone' tell a child’s learning story.
We explore the View Effort page and watches a class unfold: who is on target, who needs a boost, and which pupils reveal hidden gaps through the Baseline Assessment. Nicki explains the careful, human-centred design behind placement decisions—how confidence, time spent on a question and skipped items shape where a child begins—and Andrew shares how that live data becomes the starting point for planning, targeting assignments and real-time intervention.
Nicki, Ian and Andrew see data not as cold charts but as a tool for building confidence, shaping lessons and giving learners agency.
Please email us with your questions, ideas or suggestions at classroomconnect@discoveryed.com  

Join Ian and Andrew as they discuss how to turn the everyday screen into a launchpad for curiosity. What starts as a sound-off video - looping as children enter the classroom - becomes a conversation starter, a memory hook, and the spark for deeper investigations.
Listen as they reveal how video is more than footage: it’s a text packed with visuals, narration, and cues that teachers can mine to assess, challenge, and inspire. Through practical examples—silent loops to prime discussion, embedded quizzes for real-time formative checks, and video-driven scaffolds for hands-on lessons—they show how to move learners from recognition to real understanding.
Whether you teach habitats, art styles, or scientific processes, this episode unfolds a clear, human story about using digital video to build context, surface prior knowledge, and free classroom time for problem solving and creativity.
Consider how a single clip can change the way students think, remember, and create.
Please email us with your questions, ideas or suggestions at classroomconnect@discoveryed.com  

Ian and Andrew are lucky to work with lots of different schools in diverse settings with widely varying needs and experiences. In this episode they discuss how case studies created to share these experiences can be used by colleagues to make in difference in their own schools.
Please email us with your questions, ideas or suggestions at classroomconnect@discoveryed.com  

Ian and Andrew discuss some of the effective ways digital can help children  to engage and make connections to prior learning quickly.
Please email us with your questions, ideas or suggestions at classroomconnect@discoveryed.com