We all know spelling is tricky. With more than 150 ways of spelling the 44 sounds in the English language, it’s no wonder children struggle with spelling. So how can we help children become better spellers and build a lasting understanding of spelling rules and the many exceptions to those rules? Here are five helpful […]
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As you’re probably already aware, a new Ofsted Education Inspection Framework will come into force in September 2019. You can get an overview of the new Framework in our blog post ‘The new Ofsted Education Inspection Framework: What’s changed?’ We’ve taken a closer look at the Framework, alongside the new School Inspection Handbook that Ofsted inspectors will be using, and have pulled out […]
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The sun is shining and the holidays are just around the corner, so what better excuse to roll out a list of recommended reads to see you through the summer. Here’s my pick of the top five reads for ten to thirteen-year-olds. Scavengers by Darren Simpson If you like stories where things aren’t quite what they […]
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Successful comprehension is what allows children to acquire and apply new knowledge, to communicate successfully, and ultimately, to be academically successful. However, good comprehension is more than simply processing single words or sentences; it’s the reader having a coherent understanding of the meaning of the text as a whole. To do this, they need to […]
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With problem solving and reasoning at the core of the mathematics curriculum, we recognise an increased emphasis on developing teaching styles where children are encouraged to think for themselves, explore strategies, communicate their thinking and discuss and debate with their peers. This can be in conflict with a belief that all learning in mathematics has […]
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The draft Curriculum for Wales has now been released, and as educators we finally have the What Matters statements for the new Areas of Learning Experience (AOLE). The Mathematics and Numeracy AOLE is segregated into four subsections of mathematics: The number system is used to represent and compare relationships between numbers and quantitiesAlgebra uses symbol systems to express the structures of relationships between […]
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Empathy Day on the 11th June is an annual event founded by Empathy Lab , to harness books’ empathy-building power. It aims to encourage us to read stories, build empathy and make the world a better place. We’ve put together a list of brilliant books that will help you and your class see things from someone else’s […]
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Every year thousands of young people from across the UK pick up their pens to enter BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words competition. As part of ongoing language and lexical research, the Oxford Children’s Dictionaries & Children’s Language Data team at Oxford University Press has analysed almost 113,000 short stories submitted to the competition for the […]
Read more Following a 3-month public consultation period that got more than 15,000 responses, Ofsted has published its new Education Inspection Framework. The new framework will apply from September 2019, but what’s changed and what does this mean for schools? “Our goal is really simple: to be a force for improvement through our inspections. We want to […]
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Did you know that May is National Share-a-Story Month in the UK? It’s an annual celebration of the power of storytelling and story sharing. This year’s theme is ‘travelling tales’, so channel your inner adventurer, pack your bags, and bring your class on a journey to distant times and faraway lands. Big Car, Small CarProject X OriginsOxford Level […]
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