new curriculum

Shakespeare Teaching Ideas for Key Stage 2

The result at Collins are five plays: The Tempest, Midsummer’s Night Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Twelfth Night, rewritten in story form for younger readers. These are a great introduction to the world of Shakespeare but how can we use them effectively to help pupils immerse themselves in the rich language of Shakespeare’s world? Read More

Presenting Data – How your students can display detail

As sad as it may seem, these days no one seems to have enough time to look at things in detail, from text language to finding information, we want to know what we need to know as quickly as possible. Maths has been doing this for some time now with… Read More

Distant Places Matter a Lot

How do children form their ideas about other peoples and countries?  The answer is that they usually draw on a number of different sources. Parents, peers and the mass media will undoubtedly be important influences.  Pictures, videos and stories will feed their imagination.  Many are stimulated by their interest and… Read More

I Was There: The Fall of the Berlin Wall

25 years ago this November, one of the most despised symbols of communism and the divide between east and west; the Berlin Wall, came down. It was a momentous occasion and finally signalled the end of the Soviet era in Eastern Europe. Millions of people witnessed the occasion, either on… Read More

Writing ‘The Edge’ – Alan Gibbons

Writing about issues such as domestic violence, you always risk sounding preachy. It is easy to let your desire to do the subject justice take over the narrative. When I started writing The Edge, I knew that the story had to come first. Read More

Ready for the new Programme of Study?

Welcome back to a new school year! And what an interesting one it will be, as it’s all change for the National Curriculum. In July, the government announced details of its draft curriculum, including the new statutory Programmes of Study (PoS) which will be introduced from September 2014 for key… Read More

Teaching Phonics

With the introduction of the Year One Phonics Screening Check in 2012 and the arrival of a new curriculum in 2014 with a greater focus on systematic phonics, it has never been more important to ensure as a school that you have got your phonics teaching right. For many schools… Read More

Tips for using the new National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Primary English

Read the introduction to the English Programmes of Study (Pp13-16). Fears about the focus on phonics, grammar and spelling should be allayed once the purpose and the aims are explored. The introduction emphasises the importance of spoken language in cognitive, social and linguistic development; it refers to reading as opening… Read More

Lots in translation!

Much has been said and written about whether or not translation has a place in the language classroom. I believe it’s a skill worth developing in our young language learners. It’s a practical skill for the real world. And, of course, it’s also now part of the Key Stage 3… Read More

Parts of a Circle

One of the new areas in the KS2 maths curriculum is exploring circles including circumferences and areas. Dave Lewis offers up some fun activities and ideas on how to teach this new topic. Read More