Teaching and learning is crucial to the success of a primary school. Our best practice articles and case studies focus on how school leaders can support their teachers to sustain high quality teaching and learning.

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Coronavirus: Provision and teaching in school during the crisis

For the foreseeable future, schools are only open to children of key workers, vulnerable students or those with an EHCP. Matt Bromley looks at what kind of provision we can reasonably offer these pupils at a time of national crisis and staff shortages

Coronavirus: Supporting families and pupils learning from home

Schools face a raft of new challenges as they seek to support the home education of their students. Matt Bromley offers his reflections on what teachers and schools can do to ensure learning continues as much as possible during the coronavirus emergency

Using music effectively as part of your lessons

Music is a powerful tool that teachers can embrace in the classroom to help encourage, calm, motivate, inspire and more. Fiona Aubrey-Smith offers some pointers

Case study: Creating an inspiring reading environment

Drawing on research evidence, Nafferton Primary School has gone all-out to create a reading environment to inspire its pupils and make them want to pick up a book. Lucy May and David Murray explain how

Coronavirus: Home education resources for schools, teachers and parents

A range of resources and education services are being offered to schools and parents to help support the home education of students during the coronavirus crisis. Dorothy Lepkowska looks at some of what is out there, including a number of free-access resources

EAL strategies for multilingual classrooms

The diversity to be found in today’s classrooms requires that EAL strategies be embedded within pedagogy and teaching and learning. Kamil Trzebiatowski offers some advice and signposts free resources

Ofsted’s changed regime: Questions to consider

The Education Inspection Framework is a radical departure from what has gone before. Danny Cuttell considers some aspects that you might have missed and asks some key questions of your curriculum provision

Differentiation: Time to rethink our approach?

Differentiation for pupils, including those with SEN, is important – but it does not have to be all-consuming for the teacher. Daniel Sobel and Sara Alston discuss some simple adjustments to our thinking and teaching

Perhaps the greenest school in England...

How do primary schools translate children’s anxieties about our planet into practical learning opportunities? Nick Bannister spoke to a Greater Manchester primary which has forged a national reputation for its approach to environmental education

Reflections on year 6 reading attainment

The key stage 2 national curriculum tests can give us far greater insights than just a scaled score. Sarah Gibb explores what individual question data can tell us about which skills pupils successfully demonstrate in year 6 and which areas prove more challenging

RSE, health education and parental consultation

Parental engagement with statutory relationships, sex and health education is a vital component of a successful curriculum. Leah Jewett offers her advice to primary schools ahead of September 2020

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Learning environments: A question of light and air

With the darker days drawing in and winter upon us, Fiona Aubrey-Smith considers two issues that do not often make it to the top of school improvement plans – light and air

Improving your pupils’ retention and retrieval

A project to boost the working memories of children in years 3 to 6 has proved a success for Liphook Junior School. SENCO Nicky Parrott takes us through what they did and how it worked

How we created an inspiring school library

This is the story of how a small team created a new, woodland-themed library at Halberton Primary School. Christine Campion explains

Discussion is a key step towards maths mastery

Mathematics Mastery has developed a framework to help teachers use language and communication to increase pupils’ enjoyment, confidence and attainment. Joe Sarchet-Winters breaks the approach down into five tips to enable pupils to confidently articulate mathematical ideas

Teaching climate change

EduCCate Global and a group of Teaching Schools in Derbyshire are supporting teachers to train in climate change education in order to equip children to handle an uncertain future on a warming planet. Headteacher Fiona Cowan explains more about the project and her school’s climate change curriculum

Ofsted: What curriculum evidence will they need?

With Ofsted’s new ‘quality of education’ judgement in mind, Imogen Rowley examines how inspectors will be judging the ‘intent, implementation and impact’ of your curriculum

Mastery of a broad and balanced curriculum...

Lea Forest Primary Academy delivers an enriched, broad and balanced curriculum, at the heart of which is a five-part mastery model that guides teaching and learning. Headteacher Craig Clarke explains

The side-effects of high expectations...

It is an important requirement of Ofsted inspections – teacher expectations, particularly of disadvantaged students, must be high. However, a new study asks whether this policy has any unintended consequences for our pupils

Getting your pupls reading

The reading ethos at Wylam First School is impressive, as was shown by their performance in the 200 Million Minutes Reading Challenge earlier this year. Sean Daley explains how they have created 160 little bookworms

Embracing the benefits and fun of forest schools

Creating forest school environments and opportunities for primary pupils of all ages can pay dividends. Emma Lee-Potter looks at some recent research and speaks to one school that has embraced the outdoors...

Curriculum design: Waiting for the Sunrise

In light of the new Education Inspection Framework, St Mary’s CE School has created the Sunrise Curriculum. Headteacher Nicola Bray describes their journey of curriculum design and development

Ofsted’s EIF and the place of EAL education

The new Education Inspection Framework makes no reference to pupils who use English as an additional language as a distinct group. This does not mean, however, that schools should stop considering the distinct learning needs of pupils with EAL. Katherine Solomon and Silvana Richardson advise

A focus on reading fluency to support SATs preparation

Maintaining a focus on reading fluency beyond key stage 1 could be key to improving SATs results. Kelly Challis explains how and offers some teaching techniques and other ideas

Literacy: Inspiring pupils’ writing

How can we innovate our practice to ensure even more young people achieve in writing? Teacher-writer experts Ross Young and Phil Ferguson share their dos and don’ts when it comes to raising standards and inspiring the next generation of writers

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