Get bang for your ‘oracy’ buck Nearly 30 years ago, Professor Bob Slavin, an educator from Baltimore, visited my school in Whitechapel. After praising our

We are never complacent. Schools depend upon our teaching programme. We research practices that will work best for all pupils – and especially those with special

There is considerable research on the strategies advertisers use to persuade people to buy things. We’ll look at some of the common persuasive strategies that

Bang for our book  In building the best book corner, focus on the things that will make the biggest difference. Imagine you have a clean

Decodable books  Decodable books are necessary for children who are learning to read because they should read books that match the sounds they already know.

As a teacher, in the days when we listened to individual children read, I’d often say, ‘Try to put a bit of expression in your

Let’s say that you’re preparing a lesson on Caesar’s invasions of Britain. Maybe you don’t know much about them, so you read around the subject,

I’ve just listened to a podcast about UPFs. I say to my partner, you’ve got to stop eating ultra-processed foods. They’re hijacking your hormones. They’re

Is FRED’S PAL strong?This might help you remember what inspectors will be looking for! Fidelity to an SSP programme, from sounds to fluencyReception – make

I wrote Read Write Inc. Phonics to teach reading and writing. I wove the teaching of reading and writing together into one programme: each reading activity supports the next,

My obsession with the teaching of reading grew out of failure. In the 1980s, I switched to a reading method that backfired. Never again. Over

By Nicola Grove, Honorary Senior Lecturer at University of Kent and Sarah Barnett, Independent Speech and Language Therapist in Somerset We express our ideas to

Few books at home, no magnetic letters on the fridge? Win parents’ support from the very beginning.  Show off what their children know in a

I had to pass Grade 4 to join the school orchestra. Three years of lessons and practice – just to scrape into the second violins.

It’s not the number of books you’ve got that matters, it’s how much you love them that counts. Young children are wired to thrive on

Did you know that being read to is the most powerful predictor of your child’s future reading comprehension? By reading aloud a story to your child every

For children from Nursery to Year 2, carpet time helps the teacher bring children together. Teachers read stories, set their expectations for behaviour and teach from the

You wouldn’t teach children to dance by telling them what dancers do. A whole research industry continues to grow to monitor the effect of “comprehension