Teach Sleep Repeat
Teach Sleep Repeat is the podcast for teachers who need a laugh, a rant, and a reminder they are not alone. Dylan and Hayden dive into the real highs and lows of school life from classroom chaos to staffroom gossip.
Play Latest Episode
Recent Episodes
74
June 21, 2026
203. Is Using AI Tutors In Schools A Good Idea? (Listener Q&A)
🧮 Free for school staff: generate arithmetic worksheets in seconds at tools.mathszoo.app The government have announced plans for all children on free school meals to be given access to an AI tutor, which begs the question, are we already on the way to humans being replaced by robots? "Am I cut out for this?" Ellie's message is the one that might hit hardest. She moved from TA into a Year 6 class as a trainee, was promised regular meetings and observations that never materialised, has had praise
73
June 14, 2026
202. Is Teaching Becoming An Impossible Job? (Listener Q&A)
Use our FREE worksheet arithmetic generator here: tools.mathszoo.app Twenty-five years in KS2, and Kathy says teaching now feels like a battle. Her message kicks off this listener mailbag: a rise in SEND needs, behaviour, apathy and shaky basics since COVID, and a class where the majority aren't equipped for year group expectations. She's gone more child-led to meet them where they are, but that collides with what the curriculum demands. So she asks the big one. Do the people making the decision
72
June 7, 2026
201. Frustrated Teachers, Dodging Questions & Important Topics: Reacting To Our Chat With The Education Secretary
So you sit a sitting Education Secretary down, ask the questions teachers actually want answered, follow up when the first answer wobbles, and then the verdict comes back from you, the listeners. This week Dylan and Hayden go through the feedback from the Bridget Phillipson episode, and it was overwhelmingly kind. Listeners said the questions were clear and fair, that the follow ups kept coming, and that the show genuinely tried to hold her to account rather than rolling out the red carpet. But
71
May 31, 2026
200. A Chat With Bridget Phillipson: The SEND White Paper, Maternity Pay & School Budgets
Two hundred episodes in, and somehow we ended up across the table from the person who runs the whole system. For the TSR 200th, Dylan and Hayden sit down with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, and waste none of it on small talk. First, the SEND white paper. The move from EHCPs to the new Individual Support Plans sounds tidy, but it could leave families without the right to appeal at a tribunal. What happens to children with complex needs when the funding does not follow? Then the part that
70
May 17, 2026
199. Unpopular Opinions, Draconian Policies, and a SATs Week Rant
"What's the biggest thing you two actually disagree on?" One listener has clocked the I agree, I agree tic and wants a proper scrap, so Dylan and Hayden dig into the teaching vs non-teaching divide and find it's spikier than either expected. Then a brave question lands. Should politics be explicitly taught in KS2? The boys weigh up whether ten year olds can handle it, who gets to decide what counts as balanced, and what happens when a kid asks the question you really didn't want them to ask. Nex
69
May 10, 2026
198. Should Teachers Model Healthy Eating? Plus Quickest ECT Quits, Ethical Issues & Zombie Outbreaks
🔢 Sign up for a free Maths Zoo demo right now and get your school using it before the end of term. Boost maths fluency and arithmetic across every year group, completely free trial, no strings. Book it at www.mathszoo.org A teacher writes in asking if it is genuinely acceptable to eat biscuits and drink sugary drinks in front of children. Are teachers supposed to be role models when it comes to lunch, or can you have whatever you want in your packed lunch and not feel bad about it? Dylan and Hay
Join the Email List
Listen On
Recent Blog Posts
Oct. 6, 2025
The Power of Play: Why Continuous Provision Matters for Every Child
If you spend any time in an Early Years classroom you will quickly see that learning does not always happen at a desk. It happens in the role play corner where children negotiate who is the shopkeeper. It happens in the sand tray where pouring and m…
Oct. 1, 2025
The Biggest Time-Wasting Teacher Jobs and Why They Should Be Scrapped
Every teacher knows the feeling of spending hours on something that makes no difference to the children in front of them. In Episode 138 of Teach Sleep Repeat we dived into the biggest time-wasting jobs in schools and asked why they still exist.Th…
Sept. 17, 2025
We Are Quitting Teaching – Here’s Why
The UK education system is at a crossroads. Across staffrooms and social media feeds, conversations about teacher burnout, Ofsted pressure and impossible workloads are louder than ever. In Episode 117 of Teach Sleep Repeat we shared openly and hones…