Reviewing and shaping your curriculum When she took up her current post as headteacher, Lyndsey King set about reviewing her school’s curriculum offer. She talks us through the approaches her school took and the lessons learned
Ideas to make outdoor learning work for your school Expert Alex Alves offers some practical strategies and ideas to incorporate outdoor learning into primary school life despite time, locational and budget restrictions – and particularly in urban areas
Quick wins in the English classroom Success in English is the key to success across pupils’ education. Expert David Maytham offers some quick ideas to help engage children and accelerate progress in English 1 comment
Year 6 attainment: Filling in the gaps In a bid to raise year 6 attainment, Lesley Keast led a project to identify and focus on the ‘key marginal’ students and close the gaps in their learning
Practical ideas and strategies to improve writing skills Drawing on the work of a number of schools, Fiona Aubrey-Smith shares some practical ideas from headteachers and class teachers to improve writing skills – especially for boys
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
