Effective roles for teaching assistants in whole-class work The teaching assistant’s role in intervention or group work is well understood, but what impact can they have on whole-class teaching and learning? Philip Hughes offers some advice
Moving primary school lessons into the museum A King’s College research project has investigated the learning, social and cultural outcomes when significant parts of primary education take place in museums and galleries. Headteacher Russell Dwyer, who took part in the research, explains
Do you set homework, or just ‘busy work’? How much homework in your school is simply ‘busy work’? Cindy Blanes explores how we can make homework both meaningful and engaging
Literacy, oracy and language with Shakespeare Robinsfield Primary School has been delivering Shakespeare to its five and six-year-old pupils with a specific focus on literacy, oracy and language. Headteacher Naomi Leaver explains how they approach this work
Enlivening your approach to languages education It can be difficult for primary schools to maintain their commitment to teaching modern foreign languages. Suzanne O’Connell looks at the challenges for schools and some ideas for enlivening approaches to language learning
Barriers to a growth mindset Over the last few months, Ross McWilliam has been looking at adopting growth mindset approaches, particularly for key stage 2 pupils. In this final article in the series, he considers some of the barriers to this way of teaching
Diary of a Parent: The Cinderella subjects? After seeing the impact of a trip to the theatre on her daughter, our parent diarist is concerned that the academic focus of education is limiting children’s life chances
Ideas and strategies to engage reluctant readers Reluctant readers in their final years of primary education are in danger of entering adult life functionally illiterate – with all the risks that this brings. Georgina Jones looks at what parents can do and offers teachers some ideas for use in class
The growth mindset in key stage 2: Part 3 In the third part of his four-part series on growth mindset approaches to teaching in key stage 2, Ross McWilliam looks at whole-school strategies to involve pupils, staff and your parents
Case study: The arts across the curriculum Balancing high-quality arts provision with meeting core academic measures is a challenge for primary schools. Jane Ryder discusses how this is tackled at Sidegate Primary School and offers some examples of their practice
Positive male role-models For many pupils, having a positive male role-model in their lives can make a big difference to outcomes. Kim Jones suggests hosting workshops to give your fathers a chance to engage with their children and the school
Creating pupils who take responsibility for their own learning Creating responsible children and encouraging your students to begin to take responsibility for their own learning is an admirable ambition for every school. Fiona Aubrey-Smith draws on some examples of good practice to offer advice, ideas and guidance
Music education: An evaluation of In Harmony The In Harmony project has received £3 million in government funding to bring music opportunities to primary pupils in six disadvantaged areas. Dorothy Lepkowska looks at a new evaluation of the scheme’s impact so far
Teaching memory skills Memory champion and school leader Jonathan Hancock has always been amazed that more schools don’t focus on memory skills. He argues why they should and offers some ideas for memory games and other approaches
The growth mindset in key stage 2: Part 2 In the second part of his four-part series on the growth mindset approaches to teaching, Ross McWilliam discusses how to implement ‘starter’ growth mindset at key stage 2
Getting to grips with teaching Shakespeare Engaging young pupils with the work of Shakespeare is not as hard as you might think. Emma Lee-Potter speaks to two schools who have been working with the Royal Shakespeare Company to great effect
Boosting fitness skills with PE homework The homework debate does not often stretch to PE – but should it? Child development specialist Tania Swift discusses introducing PE homework to boost the activity of our pupils out of school
A character education SEF Make a difference to personal development, behaviour and welfare – Matt Bawden explains how character education might set the tone across a school and offers a self-evaluation framework
Pupil leadership in action The importance of pupils taking ownership of their learning and having greater roles within school decision-making is increasingly recognised. Jo Corrigan looks at the principles of effective student leadership and examines the work of pupils at Eastlands Primary on its anti-bullying programme
The growth mindset in key stage 2: Part 1 In the first of a four-part series, Ross McWilliam looks at the growth mindset theory in action at key stage 2 and discusses implementing ‘starter’ growth mindset approaches
Developing your pupils’ emotional intelligence With children and young people facing so many challenges to their wellbeing and mental health, having active strategies in the school environment to develop their emotional intelligence can make a real difference. Expert Shahana Knight offers some quick ideas
Learning behaviours: The Learning Superheroes! Learning behaviours are something we are all familiar with, but to children they can seem abstract concepts. Headteacher Heather Madsen explains how they overcame this challenge at Red Oak Primary
A whole-school guided reading programme Deputy headteacher Auveen Twomey describes her work to introduce a whole-school guided reading programme to raise standards of literacy, boost reading for pleasure and raise pupil outcomes
Case study: Talking about death Talking about death is something we are not very good at and often do not tackle in schools. Yet a vast majority of pupils will experience a significant bereavement before the age of 16. Emma Lee-Potter reports on a pilot project linking one school’s pupils with their local hospice
Diary of a Headteacher: Time for enrichment? Despite government accountability and pressure focusing on academic outcomes above all else, Tom Donohoe is adamant that a breadth of curriculum provision must be maintained...
