primary literacy

Teaching every child to read!

We are determined to teach every child to read, so we have developed different programmes to ensure you can meet the needs of all your leaners.  Read More

Meet Nadine Cowan, author of the new Black history series from Big Cat

I’m Nadine Cowan and I write and illustrate picture books with Black main protagonists to combat the low figures of Black children in children’s literature from diverse and underrepresented voices/creators.  Read More

Supporting Reluctant Readers

Reluctant readers are a small but significant group of children who do not yet read for pleasure. They are children who can read, but instead avoid or choose not to read. While not exclusively boys, many are, and finding ways to guide them towards reading as a pleasurable activity is… Read More

Chris Callaghan – From reluctant reader to published author

A few years ago, when I became a published author, I was thrust into a world of writers, readers and of generally charming people who love books. And I mean LOVE books. I listened to their reminisces of devouring all kinds of books from an early age, of excited… Read More

Shinoy and The Chaos Crew – The new Big Cat series for reluctant readers

Reluctant readers are a small group of children who can read but choose not to. Meeting their needs can be extremely challenging, but now Big Cat has a series of books to help this special group of readers ignite their love of reading. Big Cat has always… Read More

Helping KS2 Children With Reading At Home

Literacy expert Gill Matthews, shares some simple, enjoyable ideas for how parents can support their child’s reading comprehension and development at home. You may find this helpful to share with your pupils’ parents or you can adapt the ideas for your home learning plan. Once your child is able to… Read More

How Parents Can Support Their Child’s Writing At Home

Writing is one of the most challenging things we ask our children to do and it is hard for parents to know what’s expected in each year group and how to help their child. Literacy expert, Rachel Clarke has looked at some of the writing skills taught in each year… Read More

Letters and Sounds and Challenging the More Able Child

Teachers often get training on how to support struggling children. They spend time planning and creating resources to support those children. However, teacher training can sometimes miss showing teachers how to challenge the most able children, and challenge (particularly in phonics teaching) is regularly a focus of attention in Ofsted… Read More

Applying Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation in Writing

Teaching vocabulary, grammar and punctuation for better performance in the VGP key stage tests is important for league tables and inspections, but, for many children, it does little to improve spoken and written language. It’s possible, however, to teach VGP in such a way that it leads to high quality writing, while simultaneously preparing for good grammar test results. Read More

How to… celebrate World Book Day

World Book Day is almost here! This much-loved day in the school year is one to have lots of fun on, from dressing up as book characters to revisiting our favourite books. It’s a day to focus on books and reading and hopefully build up enough of a head of… Read More