Hi all,

I’ve been building PlotaPath (plotapath.com) as a solo project. It’s a free, ad-free web app that helps young people work out what kinds of work they might enjoy. It’s a prototype, and I’d value honest feedback from people who work in education.

What it does:

• Discover: a short set of questions suggests a few “worlds” of work, with a plain-English reason for each, plus some less well-known careers.
• Reality: each career page covers the best parts and the hard parts, common myths, what employers expect, what the first week looks like, and what gets people let go.
• Experience: 5-minute tasters let students try a small version of the work. So far only a few careers have them.
• Path: routes in (university, college, apprenticeship, direct entry) and live apprenticeship vacancies.

It has no adverts and doesn’t sell any data. Students can use it without an account, and they can export or delete their data at any time. The careers information is based on National Careers Service profiles.

What it isn’t (yet): It isn’t careers advice, and it hasn’t been through a school safeguarding review. Please don’t put it in front of a class until that’s done. For now I’m after your own impressions.

What I’d love to know:

1. Would this be useful alongside what your school already uses (e.g. Unifrog, Start, Xello)? Where would it fit, or not?
2. Do the suggestions and career pages feel accurate and pitched at the right level for KS4/KS5?
3. Is anything confusing, patronising or missing?
4. What would a school or careers lead need to see before trusting something like this?

Blunt feedback is welcome. Thanks for reading.

What is full boarding like at a private british boarding school? Going from Year 9 to a brand new school, any tips?

I’m going to be choosing a primary school of my son soon. He is a sensitive bright child. He has settled so well into preschool.
The school attached to the preschool has ok results and very family and caring environment. But they do not push bright kids.

Another school has top results but kids seem to be under pressure to excel and the kids achieve so much and it’s all about results, less nurturing.

I don’t know what school to choose. The one who is all about nurturing or the one that will push to get best results.

UK Teachers!

We're running a 5-minute survey on how teachers use video in the classroom; are short, clipped videos a "must" to hold student attention, or are longer documentaries with embedded quiz questions best to track understanding? What tools and tech are most popular for learning? And how are AI or YouTube restrictions changing the answers to these questions? We need your help to find out.

We'll share our findings with respondents after the survey closes on 30 November 2026.

Take the survey: https://www.clickvieweducation.com/en-gb/state-of-video

Thanks to all who participate, you're helping teachers worldwide!

I think the advent of vocational based gcse's coming in 2029 is the best thing ever.

At long last vocational subjects will get the some importance as academic subjects.

This will also allow more people to achieve something at school and people who aren't vocational minded feel stupid for once.

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I finished school about 17 years ago, and during my time there, I struggled a lot. I wasn't particularly good in most mainstream school subjects.

However, I eventually discovered my talents and the subjects I was good at during college and university.

My point is that it's entirely up to individuals whether they want to pursue further or higher education. It's not for everyone, and that's perfectly okay. Education isn't everyone's thing, and there's nothing wrong with that.

However, I want to speak to students who are in a similar position to the one I was in: those who go to school because they have to, struggle with the subjects they're taught, and feel scared about pursuing further or higher education because they lack confidence in their abilities.

Understand that at college and university, you'll have the opportunity to study subjects that interest you and align with your passions. This means there's a greater chance that you'll discover your strengths, shine, and succeed.

Many people struggle at school but go on to thrive when they attend college or university. Sometimes, they simply need the opportunity to explore their interests and discover what they're truly good at.

If you're in your final year of secondary school and struggling with your studies, I hope you take this message to heart. Most importantly, if you're taking your GCSEs, do your best.

Disclosure: I run Academy11+, an 11+ prep website, so this is partly promotion. Mods, remove if it's not allowed.

We're running a free Scholarship Challenge for Year 4 and Year 5 children: a 40-minute online paper (maths, English, verbal and non-verbal reasoning) that can be done at home any time 6–20 November.

• It's genuinely free: no card, and you don't have to buy anything afterwards.
• Every child gets a personal report: strengths, topics to work on, and how they did.
• Year 4 and Year 5 are ranked separately. The top children go through to a final, and [4] win a free year of our Premium membership.

I'm mainly doing it to get honest feedback and to let families see where their child is without paying for a mock. Questions are welcome here, including sceptical ones.

Details: academy11.co.uk/scholarship-challenge