Best Practice

Learn more about primary education and leadership best practice with our range of in-depth articles written specifically for UK primary school leaders.

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Restorative practice: Placing relationships at the heart of teaching

Every day, in lots of different ways, our students ask: do I matter to you, do you notice me, do I belong here? Mark Finnis looks at why relationships are the most important thing in teaching and offers some tips

Whole-class feedback: Practical tips and ideas

Giving whole-class feedback – when you address misconceptions and other issues as a collective – can have a big impact on student progress and your workload as a teacher. Adam Riches advises

Social mobility vs equity: What can Ofsted learn from other UK school inspectorates?

Ofsted’s approach to inspection has resulted in unintended consequences and a high-stakes, oppositional culture of accountability. Dr Dana Dabbous considers what lessons Ofsted might learn from inspection approaches in the other home nations

Using cognitive science to improve classroom practice

What is cognitive science and cognitive load theory? Do you need to use it when you teach? Exactly how do you use it when you teach? Dr Kelly Woodford-Richens offers a practical overview of cognitive science in practice

Student voice: How to create a collaborative school and classroom culture

Collaborative decision-making happens when the options, constraints and possibilities in the classroom are discussed and decided in partnership with pupils. Dr Geraldine Rowe explains what this looks like in practice

Behaviour and bias: Where are your blind-spots?

When it comes to behaviour, do you treat different pupils differently? Do you look for underlying needs? What biases do you have and how do they affect your responses to poor behaviour? Adele Bates discusses and advises

The unsung heroes of the Covid-19 pandemic…

The Unsung Heroes report has revealed the key role played by teaching assistants during the pandemic. However, Jon Richards says that if these support staff are to play their part in the recovery effort, then they need proper training, a healthy career path and a decent wage

SEND & Covid: Supporting students in the months to come

The return to school last month may have been particularly challenging for our students with SEND. Garry Freeman reminds us of the basic principles of supporting students’ underlying needs – which will be more crucial than ever in the months to come

Implementing Development Matters: Six things to do now

The revised Development Matters non-statutory guidance has been produced to support schools in delivering the EYFS reforms from September 2021. Stephen Kilgour identifies six things we can do now to prepare…

Teachers & teaching assistants: Eight principles of effective working partnerships

Effective working between teachers & teaching assistants are vital. Sara Alston considers eight key principles to emerge from recent snapshot research of what makes effective teacher-TA working partnerships

How has Covid changed our traditional primary school events?

Celebration assemblies, award-giving, parents’ evenings, sports days and more – following a year of disruption and restriction, how have schools adapted their events calendar? Suzanne O’Connell finds out

Earth Day 2021: Inspiring young global citizens

This year’s Earth Day on April 22 offers primary schools the chance to engage pupils in issues relating to climate change and environmental protection. Harriet Marshall and Matthew Smitheman offer some ideas

Staff wellbeing: Five resilience hacks

Protecting the wellbeing of our education workforce is crucial during the pandemic. Martina Witter offers five resilience hacks for teaching staff to help support wellbeing during these times of change and uncertainty

Remote teaching: Effective live lessons

Schools may have re-opened more widely after the third lockdown, but remote teaching looks set to be with us for some time to come, including live online lessons. Dr Sharon Smith considers some differences between online and classroom teaching and offers a few tips

Blended learning: Creating an effective culture of virtual safeguarding

Schools are fully re-open but with self-isolation requirements still in place, remote and blended learning is set to continue for the foreseeable future. Elizabeth Rose considers how we can ensure an effective culture of virtual safeguarding in this new blended world of education

No Silver Bullets: Day-in, day-out school improvement

School improvement is not about silver bullets. Rather it is about making small incremental gains day-in, day-out. A new book is offering 89 such gains to help focus the mind. Author Paul K Ainsworth dissects four of them here…

Climate action in schools: Ideas to reduce your carbon impact

Reducing your school’s carbon emissions is not as difficult as it may seem. Alex Green from the Let’s Go Zero campaign outlines some inspiring and money-saving ideas to get your school started

Redefining the classroom set-up post-Covid

We must not revert to the status quo post-pandemic, we must instead embrace the lessons of Covid if we are to increase engagement with learning. Shahana Knight suggests we begin with our classroom set-up and offers some ideas for mixing it up...

Covid recovery: The importance of EAL assessment

Setting accurate language targets and using tailored strategies will be crucial if we are to help the post-lockdown recovery of students who use English as an additional language. Caroline Bruce and Silvana Richardson explain and advise

Introducing rough and tumble play into Reception

Tug of war, tangling, tickling, leapfrog – rough and tumble play is a normal feature of childhood and part of child development – and yet there are understandable reservations about introducing it as part of Reception provision. Teacher Rachna Joshi and EYFS lead Carla Jones advise

Advising new teachers: How can I get my pupils to behave?

Pupil behaviour is one of the most common concerns for early career teachers. Patrick Garton draws on his research with teachers and school leaders to give us three principles for developing effective behaviour management. His article advises both ECTs and those who mentor and support them