Primary

Collins Big Cat Writing Competition 2018: The Courage To Write

Fear of the blank page haunts every writer, young or old. Writing this blog began with a long period of staring at an empty white space until inspiration struck and I was brave enough to set down some words, that grew to a paragraph, until finally becoming… Read More

Are you a teacher with a smiling mind?

Did you know that October 5th 2018 is World Smile Day? If there is one thing that needs to go viral in a school then it’s smiling. Smiling is good for the wellbeing of a school community as it fuels happiness and acts as a catalyst for building rapport and… Read More

The benefits of weekly testing

Primary teacher and author, Elizabeth Dawson explains the benefits of introducing weekly tests in her school. As a teacher, I know the difficulties that we all face when trying to keep up with the ever-changing demands of the job and the, at times, seemingly-endless list of skills we need our… Read More

The 2018 KS2 Reading SATs – Expert analysis

We asked Reading Detectives author and all-round Primary reading expert, Rachel Clarke, to give us her thoughts on this year’s KS2 reading paper and what it might mean for your teaching next year. The Texts This year’s KS2 reading SAT contained an information text: The Giant Panda Bear; a… Read More

Closing the Word Gap

On the 27th of April Collins hosted the first Closing the Word Gap early reading conference. The conference was led by early reading experts Charlotte Raby and Emily Guille-Marrett who discussed comprehension, fluency, phonics and reading for pleasure. We’ve rounded up some of the key findings from the day below. The… Read More

Teaching for mastery: The pros and cons

Written by Jo Lees Jo has taught and led mathematics in primary and secondary settings. She is a former member of ACME and is on the MA committee for CPD. In her current post, apart from co-authoring The Shanghai Maths Project for Collins, Jo leads a large local authority… Read More

Why Outdoor Learning is a Must

Are you an innie or an outie? The problem is most children and their teachers are innies and there’s an outdoor education deficit. According to research, we spend so much time indoors even prison inmates get more fresh air than we do and that’s just #out of order… Read More

Make Every Week Science Week!

British Science week is here – a ten-day programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities across the UK for people of all ages, beginning 9th March 2018. For information about events happening near your school and for great ideas for STEM activities to do in school go… Read More

Poetry retreats for primary kids: sunsets, reflections and togetherness  

Imagine having no timetable, no classroom and no curriculum. At first glance, this idea might phenomenally liberating; we may think of all the things which we feel hold us back in our work just melting away. Or it might sound terrifying and destabilising, as we strain to imagine getting through… Read More

How to recharge your teaching batteries

Imagine having that Friday feeling all the time? Well, you won’t have to wait much longer because the Christmas holidays are nearly here. For many teachers, the Christmas holiday is the best time of the year. Not only do you get time off, you get all the festive fun thrown… Read More