In my opinion Key Stage Three is the most important time in secondary school and the time when we can have the biggest influence on students. It’s a time where we can have a significant impact both academically and socially. I even put this to Twitter and Twitter agreed: 50% of people shared this view! […]
By Matt Ellis, Assistant Headteacher and Maths Lead at Eastfield Primary School. Teaching new areas of maths, especially fractions, can be a printing nightmare in schools, as we teachers often use images to support understanding. But do all these printed visuals actually support and scaffold learning for all children? At our school, we believe that […]
Revision experts Primrose Kitten and Jessica Walmsley discuss three simple steps to revise Science successfully at Key Stage 3.
Hands up those who have taught students who have said that they found languages hard, that ‘they couldn’t do languages’ and that they were much better in other subjects? Certainly, during my career as a languages teacher, I have had numerous conversations with young people who felt that their knowledge and understanding of foreign languages […]
The vocabulary gap is perhaps more difficult to spot at Key Stage 3 than it is in the earlier years. By this stage, students will have 7 years of schooling under their belt, yet, when questioned directly, will struggle to define words they should be very familiar with by now. Exacerbated by Covid interruptions, teachers are faced […]
Secondary science teacher Adele Read shares key highlights from trialling Oxford Smart Activate in year 7 curriculum, including many benefits and the key differences compared to her current school curriculum.
The @OxfordEdHistory twitter recently hosted a live twitter Q&A takeover with history teacher and author Aaron Wilkes, answering teachers’ questions and discussing current concerns about teaching KS3 History! Don’t worry if you missed it – you can read all of the KS3 discussions here. Q. I seem to be reading from OFSTED that they are keen […]
Strictly speaking, Key Stage 3 lasts for three years: spanning Years 7 to 9. But over the last decade, an increasing number of schools have switched to offering a two- or two and a half-year KS3 programme. This has allowed schools to redress the difficulty of covering the lengthy GCSE specification content in only Years […]
Cognitive load relates to the amount of information that a person can hold in their working memory at any one time. During learning, information is held in your working memory until it has been processed enough to transfer into your larger capacity long-term memory. If new information is not transferred, it will most likely be […]
By Tony Weston and José García, authors and Spanish teachers
From September 2024, thousands of budding young Hispanists across the country will once again be embarking on a two-year AQA GCSE Spanish course, one which they hope will bring them both enjoyment and success.