Students learning in the classroom In October 2022, Ofsted published a report on supporting struggling readers in secondary schools after visiting six schools where a higher-than-expected proportion of struggling readers got a grade 4 or above in GCSE English language. In its conclusion, Ofsted notes that: “School leaders understood the need to identify specific reading gaps and weaknesses, and […]
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PiXL Reading project is partnering with OUP Super-Readable Rollercoasters to support schools with long-term reading to inspire fluent readers for lif.
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Sarah Eggleton suggests some strategies and tips to help you plan how to assess your students, identify learning gaps and start the catch-up process for those who need extra support at the start of the new school year. We know that the pandemic has hit those children who are disadvantaged the hardest, but it will […]
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Boy, Everywhere is a story of survival, of family, of bravery. It looks at the refugee crisis from a new perspective, and through Sami’s eyes shows that we are all one cruel twist of fate away from becoming refugees ourselves: it can happen to anyone. Historical context By 2015, the war in Syria had been […]
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Fresh Start is a catch-up and intervention programme for 9- to 13-year-olds who are struggling to learn how to read.
Here are four reasons to try Fresh Start in your primary or secondary school.
I don’t know about you, but I look forward to introducing a new class reader with the various classes I teach. There’s something about the opportunity to share great literature with young people and also have the chance to share my own passion as a reader. It’s always enjoyable to challenge myself with a new […]
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‘Cultured…Engaged…Informed’. This vision strapline underpins everything we do in my English Department. Vocabulary teaching, naturally, plays an important role in fulfilling this vision. When we spoke to students about the disadvantages that poor vocabulary acquisition brings, the one that came up repeatedly was that of frustration – the inability to communicate that which is in […]
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For very good reason the last several years has witnessed an explosion in thinking about effective revision strategies, with an increasing focus on self-testing and retrieval. As we increasingly use and model these skills in our own classrooms so too do students increasingly use them in their own independent practice. Yet, whilst we may be […]
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The Oxford Children’s Language Team reflect on the Government’s white paper for schools, highlighting the importance of vocabulary.
Read more Recently, I’ve been playing around with and using a lot of Oxford University Press Shakespeare materials and resources, which are proving to be excellent. In particular, I’ve been experimenting with their ‘Macbeth GCSE Revision Workbook’ by Graham Elsdon, which is part of the Oxford School Shakespeare series. I’ve been using this in the more traditional […]
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