Australia and New Zealand will co-host the ninth FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. 32 teams will compete, up from 24 at France in 2019.

When is the Women’s World Cup 2023?

The Women’s World Cup 2023 takes place between 20th July and 20 August 2023.

Women’s World Cup 2023 reading challenge

Join the National Literacy Trust and Lioness Leah Williamson at a free online Great FIFA World Cup 2023 Reading Challenge event on Thursday 20th July 2023.

Pupils will engage in fun and interactive reading and writing activities and will have the chance to submit questions.

Make World Cup predictions using real-time stats

With major sporting events come great opportunities to bring the rich world of statistics into the primary classroom. Football provides vast amounts of data with which many children will already be familiar – top goal scorers, league tables, numbers of passes, red cards.

Maths lessons are the perfect opportunity to harness the enthusiasm for the game in order to challenge mathematical thinking. Download Aidan Severs’ KS2 football statistic maths lesson plan.

Disney Shooting Stars training

Help girls unlock their inner superheroes and get lost in the magic of Disney storytelling, all while getting physically active.

Designed to be delivered at breakfast club, lunchtime or after school, The Disney inspired Shooting Stars training course from the FA is free for primary school staff and comprises an online training course made of five separate modules:

• Introduction
• The fundamentals
• Put it into practice
• The Disney experience
• Bring it to the playground

Free KS1 football poetry resource pack

Harness pupils’ enthusiasm for football by reading the football poem included in this free Plazoom KS1 World Cup resource pack. They’ll look at how verbs are used, before writing their own poems.

The download contains teaching notes and slides, a poem, football images, a poetry planning sheet and themed writing paper.

KS2 World Cup oracy activities and worksheets

This Key Stage 2 World Cup resource pack from Plazoom asks pupils to create an oral commentary to accompany images from football matches, clips of football matches or school football activities.

They’ll explore the language commentators use and identify how they show enthusiasm when speaking, before writing a short sports article that takes into account different viewpoints.

Describe settings with Frank Lampard

Written by Frank Lampard, the Frankie’s Magic Football series is the perfect combination of magic and football to inspire creative writing. With each adventure taking place in a different location (from the prehistoric land of dinosaurs to the jungles of Brazil), the books prompt children to consider the idea of setting in story writing.

This KS1 football literacy lesson plan encourages children to think about the techniques involved in good descriptive writing and how powerful language, adjectives and sensory description can create different effects.

Motivate footy fanatics with pop art

It’s tempting to think that using the World Cup to engage children’s learning has to involve copious amounts of PE. However, making links between football and other subject areas can be a powerful motivator for children whose main interest is sports.

This KS2 football art lesson plan shows how the movements of favourite footballers, combined with pop art, can inspire an eye-catching art project.

KS2 book topic – Kick by Mitch Johnson

Kick by Mitch Johnson focuses on young boy Budi who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. Instead of going to school he has to work at the local factory making football boots.

This special book covers poverty, child labour and crime, while maintaining an undertone of humour, hope and bravery.

Read the book in class and use these cross-curriculular UKS2 activity ideas to extend children’s understanding of the novel.

Develop decision-making in games

This KS3/4 PE lesson plan is based around improving students’ decision-making skills no matter how chaotic a game gets.

It helps boost skills, confidence and character, while thinking about game-winning tactics as well as technique.

The physics of football

In 1997, Brazilian football player Roberto Carlos’ free kick hooked dramatically to the left and landed in goal. How did he do it?

Watch the video then answer quiz questions and learn more at TEDEd.

Football School writing resources

These KS2 resources were created for the 2018 World Cup but can easily be adapted.

The authors of the Football School series have set pupils an exciting challenge to write a lesson for their favourite subject, but with a World Cup twist. 

Head to the National Literacy Trust website to get the resource, handouts, a poster and printable certificates.

You can also download a Football School activity kit so children can design their own team kit, mascot, crest, stadium and more.

KS3 maths worksheet – percentage changes

This KS3 maths football worksheet asks students to use calculate percentage changes in footballers’ salaries over time.

More ideas and resources

Football reading lists

Check out the National Literacy Trust’s list of recommended football reads for children aged 0-12. We’ve also got our own list of football book recommendations here.

Using football to improve behaviour

Read about how Chris Baylis used Premier League Primary Stars to improve the behaviour of KS1 boys, focusing on the values of respect, fair play and teamwork.

What England footballer Leah Williamson learnt at school

Arsenal and England defender Leah Williamson looks back on the efforts her school made to help her realise her footballing ambitions.

The post Women’s World Cup 2023 – Best football lesson plans, resources and ideas for KS1-KS4 appeared first on Teachwire.

Refugee Week takes place in the UK every year around World Refugee Day (20th June).

It’s a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities.

It started in 1998, and its aims are to encourage a diverse range of events to be held throughout the UK, which facilitate positive encounters between refugees and the general public in order to encourage greater understanding and overcome hostility.

It’s a chance to showcase the talent and expertise that refugees bring with them to the UK and explore new and creative ways of addressing the relevant issues and reach beyond the refugee sector.

And, of course, it’s an important way of educating and raising awareness of the reality of refugee experiences.

There are loads of great ways your school can take part, no matter how big or small you want to go. There may be events near you, or you can create something in your school for students or the wider community.

When is Refugee Week 2023?

This year’s week takes place between 19th-25th June 2023.

JUMP TO A SECTION:

• Refugee Week resources
• Best books for teaching and learning about refugees
• How to support refugee students

Refugee Week official resources

Visit the Refugee Week website to download this year’s Children & Young People’s Pack. It contains a range of activity ideas and resources to explore at school.

British Red Cross resources

This free KS2 lesson plan activity from the Red Cross will help children explore what’s really important for those forced to flee their homes. Pupils will discuss how they might cope in a crisis and explore the differences between wants and needs.

I Am Human is a video designed to create empathy, and show how language can enforce and encourage negative views and stigma towards refugees and asylum seekers. There are also a variety of activities and discussion points to accompany the video.

The Boy at the Back of the Class planning

The Boy at the Back of the Class is the perfect book to study during Refugee Week and will help you promote empathy and compassion in your KS2 classroom. Download our free PDF of activity ideas to help you get the most out of the book.

KS2 wordless picturebook activities

Give children the chance to address an important subject at their own pace with Issa Watanabe’s wordless picturebook, Migrants. This free download contains a wide range of KS2 activity ideas based around the book.

World Refugee Day assembly and resources pack

This resource pack from Plazoom will introduce children to the word ‘refugee’ and its meaning. You’ll then go on to explore why people might seek safety in a different country. Use the included assembly and activities to investigate this topic.

The Boat story and resources

The Boat is an Arts Council England funded project designed to challenge perceptions of immigration via a picturebook. The book is accompanied by free teaching resources that aim to engage children with this tricky subject.

ActionAid Refugee Week resources

ActionAid has a range of free resources available for Key Stages. They cover disasters, conflicts and human rights to build empathy and boost literacy skills.

Primary teachers can use these KS1 and KS2 Refugee Crisis Resources. For secondary there is a resource called Refugees: In Their Own Words which will help students understand the lives and experiences of those who have been displaced.

Use comic books in KS3/4 to discuss refugees

This ‘Maths of Migration’ resource features an animation called ‘North Star Fading’, which is based on the story of four Eritrean refugees. It also contains data on over 500 refugees and migrants who arrived in Europe during 2015.

In the sessions, pupils will create and answer their own questions, presenting their findings through infographic posters.

Read more about the resources and how Oaklands School students used them, then download the resources.

“By focusing on particular aspects of the data, our students revealed many different stories”

Into Film Refugee Week resources

This resource from Into Film lets teachers use film as a stimulus to discuss the hardships and resilience of refugees around the globe and contains a guide to five movies which have been specially selected to be accessible to learners within the 5-19 age range (as well as a list of other recommended films):

• An American Tail
• Casablanca
• Monsieur Lazhar
• The Kite Runner
• The Terminal

The guides include discussion questions and activity ideas to encourage learners to ask and answer questions and reflect on why people seek sanctuary in other countries.

Oxfam – We’re not so different

This film was part of Oxfam’s ‘Stand as One’ campaign which asked the public to stand in solidarity with people forced to flee.

It comes with creative resources for Key Stage 2 and 3 to get students to think about our similarities and what we all need to have a good life. Use it to encourage children to feel empathy with refugees by imagining what it would be like to leave everything behind.

Traces Project

It can be difficult for some children to fully comprehend what immigrants can bring to a country. The excellent Traces Project website explores the contributions to arts and culture from people who have sought safety in the UK.

The homepage has a timeline of well-known and important refugees from Lucien Freud through to popstars like Rita Ora and MIA. But beyond that you’ll want to check out the fantastic learning activities.

Amnesty International Refugee Week resources

Amnesty International has a range of great resources for you to explore. There’s a Seeking Safety activity pack for primary children and a one-hour Time to Flee lesson plan for secondary pupils.

Best books for teaching and learning about refugees

Everybody’s Welcome

Patricia Hegarty (3-5 years)

This gentle and empowering story is about a little mouse who dreams of building a ‘great big happy house’ in the forest. He achieves his goal with the help of a succession of animals who are themselves in need of assistance.

It was commissioned by Thomas Truong, publisher of Caterpillar Books. He is the son of a refugee and a European migrant, following the results of the Brexit referendum.

Its message is simple: if we are all kind and welcoming then together, we can create a home where everyone can be safe and joyful.

The Colour of Home

Mary Hoffman and Karin Littlewood (6-9 years)

Hassan feels out of place in a new cold, grey country. At school, he paints a picture showing his colourful Somalian home. It’s covered with the harsh colours of war from which his family has fled.

He tells his teacher about their voyage from Mogadishu to Mombasa, then to the refugee camp and on to England. But gradually things change. When Hassan’s parents put up his next picture on the wall, Hassan notices the maroon prayer mat, a bright green cushion and his sister Naima’s pink dress – the new colours of home.

My Name Was Hussein

Hristo Kyuchukov (5-9 years)

This picturebook tells the story of a young boy called Hussein as a group of soldiers take over his small Bulgarian village.

As the rights of all Muslims living there are taken away, Hussein is forced to change his name. His family’s way of life is forcibly changed too. They are no longer allowed to go out at night or go to the mosque.

Illegal

Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin (7-11 years)

This graphic novel begins with a quote about illegal aliens from Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. It’s from the team behind the Artemis Fowl comics and will help you to start a discussion on the migrant crisis in an accessible way.

The story follows 12-year-old Ebo. He’s making the treacherous journey from Africa to Europe across the Sahara desert and Mediterranean Sea.

The book cleverly alternates settings every chapter. We lurch between Ebo and brother Kwame’s panic-stricken sea crossing and the journey that brought them there.

Colfer and Donkin deliver a sucker-punch towards the end of the book. Children will need some time to absorb this, but the focus on relatable Ebo is an excellent entry point into this sensitive topic.

At the end of the book there is a map of Ebo’s journey. There’s also a cartoon strip telling a real-life refugee’s story that is similar to Ebo’s.

A Story Like the Wind

Gill Lewis (7-11 years)

This moving, atmospheric story is outstanding. Gill Lewis’s flowing prose tells the story of Rami. Marooned on a small boat with a group of strangers, Rami refuses all offers of help and support.

He has nothing to offer in return except a violin and an ancient story – a song of freedom and a story like the wind.

Rami tells the fellow travellers around him the tale of Suke and his fight to save a wild foal. His moving fable prompts the other strangers to share their own stories. There are tales of first kisses, fragrant lemon trees, of hopes, dreams and their families.

This book is a celebration of determination, love and hope. It is about the mindless devastation of war and the power of music to unite.

Jo Weaver’s blue and white charcoal illustrations are stunning and evoke beautifully the swirling sea and silent night sky.

Looking at the Stars

Jo Cotterill (7-11 years)

Utterly believable from the opening paragraph to its heartbreaking yet hopeful conclusion, this is a powerful tale that celebrates human resilience in the face of human cruelty, confusion and conflict.

It’s set in an unnamed country that is simultaneously horribly familiar and yet distinctly new. It follows the experiences of Amina. She’s a young girl who is forced to leave her home town with her sisters and her mother.

She flees to a refugee camp, after the arrival of a ‘liberating force’ proves to be far from the signal of freedom for which her community had been hoping.

As life becomes increasingly, unthinkably tougher, Amina sustains herself and her family by drawing on her imagination. She tells stories inspired by the night sky that enable all of them to picture a possible future.

Cotterill’s writing is sure, confident and moving without excess sentimentality. This allows her characters, and the circumstances in which they find themselves, to speak for themselves in a way that crosses cultural and geographical boundaries with ease.

The Children of Willesden Lane

Mona Golabek & Lee Cohen (7-11 years)

There’s no doubt that the Holocaust is a challenging period of history to broach, especially in primary school.

The Holocaust Educational Trust suggests that focusing on the experiences of Jewish child refugees is an age-appropriate way to teach the topic.

Beginning in Vienna in 1938, this book tells the true story of 14-year-old musical prodigy Lisa’s escape from Nazi-controlled Austria via the Kindertransport. It covers her experience of living in a home for refugee children in London.

Lisa’s daughter Mona Golabek, a Grammy-nominated recording artist, has co-written the story with journalist Lee Cohen. The book focuses on themes of courage, survival and the power of music. It will both educate and inspire young readers.

Find free KS2 schemes of work to accompany the themes of the book on the trust’s website.

Jackdaw Summer

David Almond (7-11 years)

Every summer Liam and Max roam the wild countryside of Northumberland – but this year things are different. One hot summer’s day a jackdaw leads the two boys into an ancient farm house. Here they find a baby, wrapped in a blanket. There’s a scribbled note pinned to it: PLESE LOOK AFTER HER RITE. THIS IS A CHILDE OF GOD.

And so begins Jackdaw Summer. A summer when friendships are tested; lines between good and bad are blurred. A summer that Liam will never forget…

The Bone Sparrow

Zana Fraillon (7-11 years)

Born in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he’s at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie.

Carrying a notebook that she’s unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck – both talismans of her family’s past and the mother she’s lost – Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence.

As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie’s family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.

In the Sea there are Crocodiles

Fabio Geda (14+ years)

One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah’s mother tells him three things: don’t use drugs or weapons, don’t cheat, don’t steal.

The next day he wakes up to find she isn’t there. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone at the border of Pakistan to fend for himself.

In a book that takes a true story and shapes it into a beautiful piece of fiction, Italian novelist Fabio Geda describes Enaiatollah’s remarkable five-year journey from Afghanistan to Italy. Here he finally managed to claim political asylum aged 15.

His ordeal took him through Iran, Turkey and Greece. He worked on building sites in order to pay people-traffickers. He endured the physical misery of dangerous border crossings squeezed into the false bottoms of lorries and trekked across inhospitable mountains.

A series of almost implausible strokes of fortune enabled him to get to Turin. Here he finds help from an Italian family and meets Fabio Geda, with whom he becomes friends.

The result of their friendship is this unique book in which Enaiatollah’s engaging, moving voice is brilliantly captured by Geda’s subtly simple storytelling. In Geda’s hands, Enaiatollah’s journey becomes a universal story of stoicism in the face of fear.

Refugee Boy

Benjamin Zephaniah (11+ years)

Alem is on holiday with his father for a few days in London. He has never been out of Ethiopia before and is very excited.

They have a great few days together. One morning, when Alem wakes up in the bed and breakfast they are staying at, he discovers the unthinkable. His father has left him.

It is only when the owner of the bed and breakfast hands him a letter that Alem is given an explanation. Alem’s father admits that because of the political problems in Ethiopia both he and Alem’s mother felt Alem would be safer in London – even though it is breaking their hearts to do this.

Alem is now on his own, in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council. He lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear from his father, and in particular about his mother, who has now gone missing.

How to support refugee students

Trainer Nola Ellen offers advice for making refugee families welcome at your school…

Some families make long and difficult journeys across Africa, Asia and Europe. On the way can experience hostility, violence, detention and exploitation.

Then, once they get to the UK, there are even more challenges to face – from the lack of sensitivity towards them in the media to our complex asylum process.

Parents can wait years for a decision on their asylum claim, and because we don’t allow most to work they’re pushed way below the poverty line.

Professional people

These might be skilled, well-educated, professional people who wish to work, to support their families and contribute to society. It can be really crushing on self-worth.

And after all that, with the success rate of all asylum claims being around 30%, many live in fear of detention and deportation.

All this has an impact on children too. They can find it difficult to sleep and concentrate in the classroom. Then there’s racism, language barriers, cultural differences and so on.

For me, enabling true inclusion starts with raising awareness, as children and adults need to unravel what they think they know about refugees. Even in schools with a high proportion of refugee children, this knowledge is often very basic.

“Enabling true inclusion starts with raising awareness”

The great news, however, is there are quite a few strategies I’ve experienced that have worked incredibly well in promoting this inclusion.

Home visits

Firstly, encourage staff who do home-school liaisons to build, where possible, a clear picture of children᾿s lives at home, what their experiences were in their homeland and on the journey here, and their educational history. This helps put behaviour and attainment in context.

Staff need to foster strong links with parents, creating a safe space in which they feel involved, welcomed, supported and included. The more you can get parents into school, the better.

“The more you can get parents into school, the better”

Welcome videos

You can also create a welcome video or book. Children can create a storyboard template, filming different parts of the school, interviewing teachers and talking about things like extra-curricular activities, lunchtimes, uniform, PE kit – everything someone new to England would need to know about the school.

Buddy systems

Peer-to-peer buddy initiatives work well – especially if you advertise volunteer positions like job roles and conduct interviews.

Anything that helps children to boost their English language skills is great, as are clubs which encourage children to celebrate their cultural heritage with others.

This builds self esteem and a strong positive identity, reminding children that they don’t need to assimilate to all things English to fit in.

The children in your class have a thirst for information and will engage with refugee awareness messages really well. But it’s also about helping pupils to become active citizens of positive change in your school and community.

Ask them, “What are you going to do with this new information?”. It’s getting them to think about the small acts of kindness that they can do that make an amazing difference.

“The ways children respond really do touch your heart”

And the ways children respond really do touch your heart. Children are generally so receptive, accepting and open-minded. It makes you think that if more adults shared their mentality, perhaps there wouldn’t even be a need for such work.

Nola Ellen offers refugee awareness sessions for children and staff in schools.

The post Refugee Week – Great teaching resources to build empathy appeared first on Teachwire.

Healthy Eating Week, run by The British Nutrition Foundation, is all about supporting and promoting healthier lifestyles.

What is the theme for 2023?

This year’s theme is ‘For Everyone’. With the cost of living crisis affecting the affordability of healthy food, this year’s focus is on providing free, evidence-based support and advice for everyone.

When is Healthy Eating Week 2023?

This year it takes place between 12th-16th June 2023.

Official resources

Register on the official Healthy Eating Week website to receive a free downloadable activity pack and resources to sue in school. There’s a primary school assembly to join in with, and a secondary school recipe competition too.

Primary lesson plan

In this free lesson plan from the Royal Horticultural Society children will learn that fruit and vegetables are a vital part of a healthy diet. They’ll also find out about the fruit and veg we grow in the UK, and how to plan a school veg garden.

Design a lorry competition

To celebrate the countdown to the Paris Olympics in 2024, Aldi, Team GB and ParalympicsGB have asked young people aged 5–14 to design a lorry that will inspire people to enjoy healthy, sustainable food.

Three winners will see their designs on an Aldi lorry and there’s lots more prizes up for grabs, too.

There’s also lots more resources for schools on the Get Set Eat Fresh website.

French UKS2 medium term plan

This six-lesson French plan, which comes with assessments, discussion notes and worksheets, will help children learn vocabulary about food and drink, and also gets them to think more about healthy eating.

Primary food projects

With busy primary teachers in mind, Food – a fact of life is a set of six food projects, one for each year of primary school.

Each project delivers learning about healthy eating, cooking and where food comes from, in an exciting food context. The download contains everything you need, including lesson plans, presentations, activity sheets and more.

Early Years resource

This free Early Years resource from Plazoom uses engaging images of different foods to teach children which foods are healthy and which should be eaten less often.

Play an online game

Cookin Castle is a simple online game that teaches primary age children about healthy, balanced diets. They’ll learn what the main food groups are and what kinds of foods they should look to eat.

Secondary PSHE and nutrition activity

This PSHE and nutrition activity for KS3 and 4 will only take 15 minutes and is perfect for tutor time. Pupils will think about how they can make small health tweaks to become healthier and happier.

The post Healthy Eating Week – Resources and ideas for celebrating in school appeared first on Teachwire.

To begin with, let’s start by saying that there’s no need to panic. There are lots of things you can do to help prepare for the teacher interview questions coming your way.

This includes thinking about the questions you might be asked in both 1-2-1 interview sessions and panel interviews so you can shine.

JUMP TO A SECTION

• Why do you want to be a teacher?
• Primary teacher interview questions
• PGCE interview questions
• ECT interview questions
• Safeguarding interview questions
• Head of year/department interview questions
• Assistant/deputy head interview questions
• Student panel interview questions
• Questions to ask in a teacher interview
• Teaching interview tips from a former headteacher
• 6 steps to acing your teacher interview

Why do you want to be a teacher?

This important question, which may also be phrased as ‘Why do you want to be head of year/department at this school?’ or similar, is critical to demonstrating your passion for the profession.

It’s a question that is likely to come up in every interview, asked either by your interviewer and/or the student panel, to see if you’re a good fit for the role.

In order to answer this question successfully, reflect on your personal motivations, such as your desire to make a impact on young lives, inspire student learning, and shape future generations.

Referencing and entwining the schools values into your answer will give you some good brownie points too. This will show you taken time to research the school ahead of your interview.

Primary teacher interview questions

When preparing for a primary teacher interview, be ready to demonstrate your:

• knowledge of the national curriculum
• approach to classroom management
• ability to differentiate instruction to meet diverse learning needs

Some common primary teaching interview questions include:

• How do you plan and deliver your lessons to meet the needs of different learners?
• How do you assess and track student progress?
• Can you give an example of a successful lesson you have taught, and what made it successful?
• How do you differentiate instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners?
• How do you manage challenging behaviour in the classroom?
• What made you decide to become a teacher?
• How do you plan and deliver engaging lessons that align with the national curriculum?
• How do you ensure that you set the correct boundaries with parents/carers?

PGCE interview questions

If you are a prospective PGCE student, your interview will likely focus on your:

• motivation to become a teacher
• understanding of the course
• experience working with children

Some common PGCE interview questions include:

• Why do you want to become a teacher?
• Why have you chosen this subject area?
• What experience have you had working with children?
• How has this influenced your decision to become a teacher?
• What challenges do you anticipate facing during the PGCE course?
• How do you plan to overcome them?
• What teaching methods do you prefer to use?
• How do these align with the aims of the PGCE course?
• What skills do you have that will make you a successful teacher?
• How have you demonstrated these in the past?

ECT interview questions

Attending your first ECT interview can be a nerve-racking experience but with the right preparation it needn’t be a nightmare. An important characteristic interviewers look for in ECTs is their enthusiasm and passion for their subject.

They want to see you are really committed to helping children learn, delivering an excellent level of education and helping improve the lives of future generations. Here’s a list of common interview questions that are likely to come up, plus some guidance for answering them well.

• Tell me a little about yourself.

Keep this short and don’t waffle. Talk about what led you to pursue teaching – for example, your education to date and any voluntary experience you may have gained. Talk about what you covered in your PGCE. Include your extracurricular activities (sports, hobbies) and link these back to how they help you as a teacher.  

• What first made you want to become a teacher?  

Do you feel the same way now? If you have some teaching experience you could refer to it here. 

• What do you think your key traits are that would make you a great teacher?  

Use a couple of examples of where you may have used these in your previous teaching experience. 

More ECT interview questions

• What is your understanding of what it is to be a teacher? 
• What do you think students look for in their teachers? 
• Why have you applied to this school and what would you bring to the school? 
• Talk about how you would approach dealing with a class of children who refuse to respect you 
• How would you handle a situation where you thought a child was at risk? 
• How do you schedule your marking work? 
• Explain how you would handle a disagreement with a parent about a child’s progress 
• How do you keep up with developments in the world of education? What issues interest you at the moment? 
• How do you use ICT in your lessons? 
• What subject do you like best? 
• How do you challenge children in your lessons? 
• What can you tell us about safeguarding? 
• Tell us about your experiences of SEND/special education 
• What behaviour management strategies do you use? 
• How do you meet the needs of all learners? 
• What attracts you to this particular position? 
• Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? 
• What are your career ambitions? 
• What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses? 

Safeguarding interview questions

Safeguarding officers play a critical role in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children in schools. For that reason, these types of questions play an important role in good teacher interviews. They typically focus on your:

• knowledge of safeguarding policies and procedures
• experience working with vulnerable children
• ability to handle safeguarding concerns

Some common safeguarding interview questions include:

• What is your understanding of safeguarding?
• Why is it important in schools?
• Can you give an example of a safeguarding concern you have dealt with in the past? How did you handle it?
• What training have you had in safeguarding?
• Explain how you’ve applied this knowledge in your work
• How do you ensure that all staff members are aware of and follow safeguarding policies and procedures?
• Talk about how you work with outside agencies, such as social services, to safeguard children
• How do you feel that safeguarding and teaching work together?

Head of year/department interview questions

If you are applying for a head of year or department role, your interview will more than likely focus on your:

• leadership skills
• experience managing staff and students
• ability to work collaboratively with colleagues

Some common head of year interview questions and head of department interview questions include:

• What experience do you have leading a team?
• How have you demonstrated effective leadership in the past?
• How do you manage student behaviour and ensure a positive school culture, i.e., within your department/year group?
• What strategies do you use to ensure that your department/year group meets academic targets?
• How do you support the professional development of your staff members?
• How do you manage underperformance?
• What has driven you to want to become head of year/department?
• Explain how you work with other school leaders to achieve school-wide goals and objectives
• How would you promote positive behaviour and address disruptive behaviour?
• How would you communicate and collaborate with parents and guardians regarding student behaviour?

Assistant/deputy headteacher interview questions

Assistant and deputy headteacher roles require strong leadership and management skills. Here are some common teacher interview questions to anticipate:

• How would you contribute to the school’s vision and strategic planning?
• How do you support and develop teachers’ professional growth?
• Can you describe a situation where you successfully resolved a conflict within your team?
• How would you ensure effective communication between the leadership team and teaching staff?
• How do you promote a positive school culture and foster collaboration among staff members?
• Talk about how you would support staff members and students’ mental health in an holistic manner

Student panel interview questions

In some teacher interviews, you may additionally face a student panel that evaluates your suitability for working with children. This could be anything from ‘what’s your favourite colour?’ to ‘how much fun are you as a teacher?’. Other questions to look out for include:

• How do you make learning fun and engaging for students?
• Can you tell us how you have supported a struggling student?
• How do you create a classroom environment where students feel safe and valued?
• Talk about how you ensure that every student’s voice is heard in your classroom
• How do you incorporate technology into your teaching?
• Was there a moment that you knew you wanted to teach and what was that?

Questions to ask in a teacher interview

Another key point to remember is that an interview is not only an opportunity for the employer to evaluate you, but also for you to assess the school and position. With this in mind, here are some questions you can ask to gain valuable insights:

• How does the school support professional development for teachers?
• Can you tell me about the school’s approach to parental involvement and community engagement?
• What opportunities are there for collaboration and teamwork among teachers?
• How does the school address the social and emotional needs of students?
• How does the school promote a positive work-life balance for its staff? With flexible working arrangements becoming increasingly important, asking how the school handles that for existing staff can be a good idea.

Questions for ECTs to ask an interviewer

• How do you support NQTs and their development? 
• Will there be opportunities for further training?
• What sort of ICT is available in classrooms? 
• Are there any areas the school is looking to develop this year? 
• When should I expect to hear back from you and will I be able to have some feedback? 

Showcase your skills

In conclusion, preparing for an interview at any level requires thorough knowledge, thoughtful responses, and self-reflection.

However, as long as you’ve familiarised yourself with these questions, practised your answers and reflected on your teaching and leadership experiences, you should be well prepared to showcase your skills and passion for teaching.

Thank you to contributor Jemma Ive, who is operations manager at Teacher Booker. Teacher Booker offers a comprehensive recruitment platform specifically designed to meet the unique needs of LAs and MATs. Offering a powerful tool that simplifies and streamlines the recruitment process, Teacher Booker’s cutting-edge solution saves time and resources whilst providing a seamless recruitment experience.

Thank you to recruitment company TLTP Education for providing some of these questions. Find out more about TLTP Education at tltp.co.uk. 

Teaching interview tips from a former headteacher

Stride into the spotlight and learn how to wow an interview panel with this advice from former headteacher Marva Rollins…

With over 30 years’ experience of sitting on interview panels, reading supporting statements, interview coaching, listening to feedback and leading interview preparation training, I’ve learned a lot about teaching interview tips to impress.

Here’s what I’ve learnt over my three decades on the job… 

Create a career road map

Firstly, you need to think and plan well ahead of making your next career step. Give yourself a time frame to reach your goal, and allow for some flexibility within it.

Life events can get in the way of your career plans so a road map with different options is a great idea.  

You also need to ask yourself a few crucial questions and document your responses: 

• How do I know I am ready for my next teaching role? 
• How have my current roles and responsibilities prepared me for this next step? 
• What is my evidence? 
• How much time do I need to give to the process of applying? 

When you are researching your next step, see what roles are available near you by visiting job boards such as Teaching Vacancies.

If your search is more speculative at this point, sign up for job alerts so you can stay up to date on the opportunities out there.  

Learning journal

The Teachers’ Standards that you worked through during your early years in the role will continue to be pivotal as you move through your career.

Documenting your growth and experience in a learning journal, and annotating them against the Teachers’ Standards, gives you plenty of content to pull from when drafting applications.

Consider also including: 

• For headship: add points from the Headteachers’ Standards and annotate with examples to demonstrate your skills. 
• Your current roles and responsibilities: record actions and impact, termly. 
• Support the next teaching cohort: take every opportunity to mentor Early Career Teachers (ECTs) as this gives you an opportunity to regularly observe a colleague and give feedback. Document your reflective process to show critical thinking. 
• Your appraisal targets: review these regularly, not just before mid-year or end of year reviews. Evidence impact along the way. 
• Seek out support: who in your current school is carrying out the roles you are aspiring to? Tap into their expertise and cross-reference the skills they think are most vital for the job with your own experience. 
• Analyse data: you will likely need to analyse data as part of the appointment process for any role below headship or senior leadership. This is often the most challenging part. Arrange to work alongside the data leader in your school now. At primary you need to be able to analyse the data for all three key stages.  

Job descriptions and person spec

It’s a good idea to download the application form for the role you are considering well in advance. Annotate the job description and person specification with evidence from your current role that matches the expectations.

This gives you an opportunity to review your current skills, knowledge and expertise – and areas where you need to develop further. This takes time and commitment, but it pays off when writing the supporting statement. 

To progress in any career, you often have to step outside your comfort zone and take on new responsibilities, which will require you to learn new skills.

“To progress in any career, you often have to step outside your comfort zone”

It’s important, in primary schools, to be secure in the skills of a curriculum leader (a wider purview than subject leader).

As you move on to another school, and up the career ladder, you may be asked to lead a subject you have not led before. Preparing now gives you the advantage at the interview, and in the role.

This means developing a deep understanding of the whole-school curriculum maps, assessment, data, and the knowledge expectations of each subject, plus the rationale for any cross-curricular links. 

When completing the personal aspects of the application form, ensure that there are no gaps in your work history. This is a safeguarding issue. If you were travelling or working at home and, for example, caring for your children, make that clear. 

How to write a supporting statement

Your opening statement creates an immediate impression, as you give an overview of your skills, knowledge and experiences. You should then go on to expand on these in the rest of the statement.  

Use your annotation of the job description and person specification to guide your statement. You may need to cut your first draft down to make it more succinct – aim for no more than two to three pages.

Some schools will specify the maximum number of words or pages, so be as concise as possible. When drafting the supporting statement, key points to consider are: 

• Overview: a brief paragraph of experiences that have prepared you for the role. 
• Teaching and learning: how your current role impacts on improvement in teaching and learning, supporting colleagues, curriculum development, CPD, impact on pupils’ attainment and wellbeing. Involvement in whole school development – School Self Evaluation Form (SEF), School Development Plan (SDP). 
• Assessment: Assessment for Learning (AfL), Assessment of Learning (AoL), adaptation, interventions, needs of SEND pupils, English as an additional language (EAL) pupils, early reading, and greater depths.  
• Data: to identify strengths, and where learning needs to be re-visited. How you addressed the needs of individuals and specific groups. 
• Budgets: demonstrate awareness of priorities when setting budgets. 
• Safeguarding and keeping children safe in education (KCSIE): your understanding of pupil and staff wellbeing.  
• Beyond the pupils: successful engagement with the community, governing body, and parents. 

Shortlisting

Person specification criteria is used to shortlist interviewees from all applications. If the role is internal, do not rely on the panel knowing your worth; you are still in competition with external candidates. 

Be gracious regarding current or previous work environments. It is always best to focus on the positive impact you have made, the skills a school has provided you with and the lessons learnt. Avoid focusing on negatives or personal grievances.  

“Avoid focusing on negatives or personal grievances” 

Coaching and mentoring 

Do not wait until you are shortlisted before you start preparing for the interview. Before you start applying for jobs, seek out a colleague or a professional coach to help you get ready for the potential interview stage.

Some of us are not as confident as others and doing ‘rehearsals’ of how different interview scenarios could unfold will mean you go into your first interview with refined responses, and a level of confidence from practising.  

Above all, be clear about your purpose for going for a promotion: providing an excellent level of teaching for all pupils.

Finally, step confidently into the spotlight. 

Marva Rollins OBE is a retired headteacher with over 24 years’ experience. She is now a consultant supporting school leaders in challenging circumstances through coaching and practical mentoring. 

6 steps to acing your teacher interview

Going for promotion? Here, Sophie Beyer asks experts to share their secrets for success…

“A teacher interview is not the same as in any other industry,” says Katie Newell, head of content at eteach.com. And of course, she’s right. After all, which other profession would ask you to work in front of 30 people to demonstrate your prowess?

“It can be a gruelling day,” confirms Rob Campbell, CEO of Morris Education Trust. “Teacher interviews might last a whole day, or two for a senior role.”

Such days might include a tour, an introduction to the head, a student panel, a psychometric test, a demo lesson, then finally a panel interview; so there are plenty of opportunities to create a good impression.

1 Engagement is key

Every interaction is part of the interview, says Liam Collins, head of Upland Community College, a secondary in East Sussex.

“I pick up as much in an initial chat as I will in the rest of the day. I personally really believe that, as there’s a subtlety to it. If a candidate can hold me in conversation, they can obviously hold a class.

“It’s not just about showing confidence, as it demonstrates the ability to build relationships.”

2 Focus on getting the basics right

“The lesson is a tricky part,” warns Rob. “Try and make it as vibrant and engaging as you can, as it is a window on to your practice.

“Don’t play it too safe. I’d rather see someone take risks,” he adds. But first, don’t forget to introduce yourself, and demonstrate you’ve learnt pupil names.

Stand out from the crowd, Liam suggests, but don’t attempt anything too complicated with IT. “Prepare by asking about the class, but keep it simple in terms of the lesson plan,” he advises.

“Never get distracted with whizzy tech. I’ve seen interviews go badly wrong with IT. It causes huge amounts of stress for the candidate. So focus on what is the key thing that the students should do, understand what skills they should show.”

“I’ve seen interviews go badly wrong with IT”

3 The 80:20 rule

Prepare by looking at the school website to get a sense of the its ethos, and behaviour policy, and ask for a tour beforehand. Remember, applicants for more senior roles are expected to demonstrate detailed knowledge.

As Ed Groombridge, director at CER education recruitment points out, “It isn’t necessarily the best candidate who gets the job, it’s likely to be the best prepared candidate.”

“Before an interview, you can predict 80% of the questions you’ll be asked,” he continues.

“Before an interview, you can predict 80% of the questions you’ll be asked”

“The first time candidates answer a question, they may not say it as well as their third or fourth go. Role play questions are likely to cover safeguarding, your teaching style, why you want to work here, how you deal with low level confrontation, and on your subject.”

4 A good last impression

Show your interest. “Write down at least eight questions ready for the interviewers,” says Ed. In his experience, many people don’t have anything to say when asked for their input.

And it may sound obvious, but actually telling the interview panel that you want the job is a clear way to demonstrate your enthusiasm.

5 | Decide your deal-breakers beforehand

More and more, Katie says, teachers are being asked whether they would accept the job on the spot. “Have a good answer ready for: ‘If we offer you the job today would you accept it?’. It really stumps people.

A bad answer would be ‘I would have to speak to my partner’, as it shows you have not been dedicated enough to prepare. Work out childcare, the commute and your professional requirements in advance.”

Your tour, and prepared questions, should help you decide whether you want to accept the position, if it’s offered.

6 | And finally…

To conclude, “It’s very rare to nail every single interview for which you’ve been selected,” notes Rob.

“Most of us are less successful in interviews than successful, so think about the feedback from previous interviews.

“It’s very rare to nail every single interview for which you’ve been selected”

“I do think most of us are slightly different from our ‘normal selves’ in teaching interviews, as teachers can create a character for the classroom, but be as authentic as you can.

“As long as you are consistent with that professional persona you’ll be happier as a result.”

The post Teacher interview questions – How to nail your next interview appeared first on Teachwire.

Earth Day happens every year on April 22nd to raise awareness for environmental concerns.

The first Earth Day was held in 1970. It’s now a popular hook for schools to use to have conversations with pupils around climate change.

Celebrations include various events coordinated globally by earthday.org. Around 1 billion people in more than 193 countries take part.

The official theme for 2023 is Invest in Our Planet.

When is Earth Day?

This year, Earth Day is celebrated on 22nd April 2023.

KS2 maths lesson

This free KS2 maths lesson plan will help you to look at the important issue of single-use plastics with your class. You’ll cover key aspects of the maths curriculum in a practical, real-world way by delving into real data.

Climate change debate reading and writing activity

This free resource pack for KS2 includes a story about the heatwave of 2020 from The Week Jr newspaper, plus a sheet of activities designed to get children talking, thinking and writing about the world around them.

KS2 book topic

October, October by Katya Balen explores our connection to the natural world, making it a great choice for Earth Day. Every page of this wonderful book will give your class lots to think about. Use this free plan to explore the book in a cross-curricular way.

KS2 RE medium term plan

Lots of subjects lend themselves to climate discussions, including RE. This free medium term plan by Adam Smith explores stewardship in Islam, how the Hajj pilgrimage is being affected by the climate and more.   

How to teach about the climate

Want to engage your pupils with the crisis without scaring them? Try these ideas from Nicola Penfold to show children the happy side of environmentalism…

1. Find relevant books 

There are many brilliant, engaging, thought-provoking stories out there to capture your students’ imagination and interest, including The Last Bear by Hannah Gold, Where the River Runs Gold by Sita Brahmachari and The Last Wild books by Piers Torday.

For younger children, there’s a raft of picture books about protecting nature and plastic in the ocean, etc.

These titles generate conversation and empower change. They can also be prompts for creative writing.

A ‘climate-fiction’ story provides an intriguing setting and a ready-made goal (finding clean water / air / land / food / justice). Pupils can write survival stories, journeys and revolutions. 

2. Get gardening 

The nature crisis comes hand-in-hand with the climate crisis. Teach them together. Schools can make a big difference to biodiversity locally.

If every school encourages wildlife into its grounds – wildflowers, log piles, bird feeders, ivy screens separating playgrounds from roads – this adds to nature corridors up and down our country and allows more species to thrive.

It enables all pupils to play a part in protecting their local environment, too, whether they have outside space at home or not. 

3. Go outside 

Being in nature is good for us. The evidence is overwhelming. It makes us happier, healthier, calmer, even kinder.

Make time to take your class outside to any wilder areas in your school grounds, or visit local green spaces.

Enjoying being in the natural world is a gift you can give your pupils that, like reading for pleasure, they can benefit from their entire lives.

“Enjoying being in the natural world is a gift you can give your pupils”

The climate and biodiversity crisis are the biggest challenges we face, and there are difficult times ahead, especially for younger generations.

Many young people know this and are frightened. Equip them with the solace nature can provide. 

4. Model eco-friendly behaviour  

Reducing waste, encouraging recycling, introducing meat free days, avoiding single use plastic, starting a school compost heap – these habits spread out to families and the benefit goes well beyond the classroom.

Don’t underestimate the power of what you model and teach. One of my daughters learned about palm oil and orangutans at school and this directly changed our family’s shopping habits. 

5. Stay tuned to current events 

Many organisations reach out to schools with climate education tools, for example WWF has free live lessons you can register for online.

All these things increase around Earth Day in April. Celebrate it in your school.

You can also have a go at identifying wildlife you see outside.

It doesn’t matter if your starting point is ignorance; show curiosity and learn alongside your pupils (or from the more nature-literate ones among them). 

6. Find out about natural climate solutions  

What is rewilding? What natural habitats capture and store carbon? It goes way beyond trees. When researching my book I was fascinated to learn about the part whales play in the climate.

They feed in the depths of the ocean, but return to the surface to poo. Their excrement feeds vast plumes of phytoplankton, which in turn captures carbon dioxide (four times as much as the Amazon rainforest!).

When a whale dies naturally, it sinks to the ocean floor and the carbon in its enormous body is locked away for centuries.

Knowing that the natural world has in-built climate solutions can give us hope, and also make us double down on our efforts to protect it.  

Nicola Penfold is author of Beyond the Frozen Horizon (£7.99, Little Tiger). 

Using trees to teach climate change in KS3

We hear from Forestry England how a discussion of trees can be the springboard for some powerful lessons on climate change…

Trees play a vital role in tackling the climate emergency, by absorbing carbon dioxide and storing it as carbon in the form of wood. They can also play an important role in reducing flooding and keeping our air clean.

Introduce your students to the role that well-managed forests play in tackling the climate emergency by watching the below video.

Whether your school is located near a forest or not, trees can still be used to spark useful discussion. The cross-curricular activities below can be completed sequentially over a number of weeks.

Remember that it’s important to reassure your students that actions they take now can have an important positive impact in future.

1. Get outside

Take students outside and ask them to hug a tree in the school grounds or your local area – it’s a fun way to introduce the topic.

Discuss the tree’s natural and seasonal processes. How does it function? Where does it store carbon? What role does it play in absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen?

2. Talk it through

Lead a discussion on how planting more trees can help ease local issues. Topics that could be covered here include sustainable timber, wildlife habitats and the wellbeing benefits of spending time in green spaces.

3. Self-reflect

Ask students to calculate how much carbon a specific tree can store, using this carbon capture activity sheet. Then ask students to research how much carbon they use themselves each day or week – this carbon footprint analysis table can provide a good starting point.

How many trees would you need to plant to offset this carbon, both individually and for the whole class?

4. Carry out an audit

Discuss whether there’s enough land to keep planting more trees to sequester our carbon needs. What else does your class think we could do collectively to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions?

Split students into smaller groups and ask them to walk around the school, carrying out an audit of small changes that can be made to help reduce carbon emissions.

Focus on areas such as energy, water, food, sustainable materials, waste, transport and biodiversity.

5. Weigh up the solutions

Review the groups’ audits during an open discussion, encouraging students to consider which suggestions are most cost effective versus those that will have the biggest impact.

Don’t forget to consider negative outcomes and mitigation tactics.

6. Draft a pledge

Use the information your students have gathered to draft a class pledge to tackle your school’s carbon footprint. Make sure it’s achievable and measurable, so that your class can see what difference they’re able to make.

Reassure your students that as individuals, we can have valuable impact – but that collectively, we can achieve so much more.

Forestry England’s climate change resource hub contains a range of free, curriculum-linked KS3 resources, including videos, case studies and student investigations.

The post Earth Day 2023 – Great activity ideas for schools appeared first on Teachwire.

Do you think your pupils would be inspired by hearing directly from popular children’s authors about how they go about their writing?

You’re in luck! Author In Your Classroom is a brilliant free podcast series, recorded especially for schools by the team at literary resources website Plazoom.

JUMP TO AN AUTHOR

• Sir Michael Morpurgo
• Dame Jacqueline Wilson
• Michael Rosen
• Joseph Coelho
• Lauren Child
• Frank Cottrell-Boyce
• Benjamin Zephaniah
• Cressida Cowell
• Robin Stevens
• Liz Pichon

Free writing resources

Every episode of Author In Your Classroom comes with free:

• Teacher notes
• PowerPoints
• Planning grids
• Writing sheets
• Quotes and illustrations for display

There’s more than 20 episodes to choose from so far, with some of the most famous children’s authors the UK has to offer.

So if you’ve got the next Enid Blyton or Beatrix Potter on your hands, or pupils who are desperate to pen the next Harry Potter or Alex Rider, give it a go in your classroom today.

Just search for Author In Your Classroom wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to hit ‘subscribe’ so you never miss an episode.

Let’s take a closer look at ten of the episodes on offer…

1 Write a new take on a classic with Sir Michael Morpurgo

Having authored classic books such as War Horse, The Butterfly Lion and Private Peaceful, Sir Michael Morpurgo is one of the undisputed champions of children’s literature.

In this episode, Sir Michael ponders why, in a world with unlimited numbers of stories, we are so keen to repeat the same ones.

“A story always comes from a truth; from something that is real”

Sir Michael Morpurgo

For young writers, adding their own ideas to a well-known story can be a motivating and enriching writing activity. A familiar tale can provide the characters or narrative structure, allowing children to use their imaginations to create something new and different.

Who better to learn about this idea from than Sir Michael Morpurgo, one of the world’s most beloved children’s authors?

The free accompanying resources allow children to learn from Michael’s experience and wisdom. They’ll draw inspiration from his book Boy Giant. This wonderful novel combines a retelling of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels with the story of Omar, a young refugee fleeing war in Afghanistan.

Children will have the chance to take a classic story that they know well and combine it with an issue they feel passionate about to create their own story built on a truth.

Activity suggestion

• Work in pairs or small groups to think of important issues that are affecting the world today that could form the idea at the centre of a story. Record these on Planning Sheet 1.
• On Planning Sheet 2, jot down the names of some classic stories.
• Look at the two planning sheets and discuss if any of the stories match one of the important issues. For example, wicked stepsisters could be good for a story about online bullying, or a story set in the forest could be an interesting way to talk about deforestation.
• Use Planning Sheet 3 to plan a story, then share ideas in partners or groups.

There are lots more writing ideas and activities in the podcast and accompanying resource pack.

Writing advice from Michael Morpurgo

“Generally speaking, you start by thinking you can only write about what’s in front of you. So when I was a teacher, my stories were either about the lives of our own children at home, or the children I was teaching at school.

“As I’ve got older I’ve known lots of joys and sadnesses and I see the world more for what it is, rather than what I hoped it might be. I write about things that are, I suppose, more complex. And so I’ve grown as a writer.”

2 Place familiar characters in new settings with Dame Jacqueline Wilson

Much loved author and former children’s laureate Dame Jacqueline Wilson has written over 100 books that have been enjoyed by children and adults alike.

Some of her unique characters have been turned into popular children’s television shows, with audiences sharing the lives of Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather.

In this episode, Jacqueline talks about her book The Primrose Railway Children and placing characters from one story into new surroundings.

“The beginning of being a writer is making things up”

Dame Jacqueline Wilson

In The Primrose Railway Children, Phoebe narrates the story of her family’s move to the countryside in mysterious circumstances. They discover an Edwardian railway line, the Primrose Railway, and enjoy rides on the classic steam trains.

The book is based on E Nesbitt’s classic The Railway Children, reimagining the story for modern children.

Use the accompany resources to explore how characters might react to the new places that they visit, then write stories based on children’s own ideas.

Activity suggestion

• Think about characters in stories you’ve read. Create a list as a class.
• Consider how you might change the characters in some way for a new story. You could change the time that they are alive, their names, gender or something else. Remember that the essence or characteristics should remain similar.
• Discuss new places that characters could visit, and create a list as a class. It could be somewhere like the Primrose Railway, that shows how things were in the past. Or characters could move from the city to the countryside or vice versa.
• Discuss your characters and new places in pairs or small groups. Use role play to develop the character further by describing the unfamiliar places while in character.

Find lots more inspiring ideas and activities in the resource pack.

Writing advice from Jacqueline Wilson

“I remember when I was young and writing my own stories, I would get stuck after about five or six pages. I’d get a bit bored with the story and not really want to continue.

“I feel that as long as it’s not for school, does it matter if you don’t finish it? No, it doesn’t. Childhood is the one time in your life when you can just purely write for fun and just enjoy it. That’s what’s important.

“When you’re doing something for school you have to think of a good beginning and ending and you have to make notes beforehand. You have to try to use correct grammar and remember all your commas and full stops.

“When you’re writing for yourself it’s good to remember all these things, but just write what’s in your head. Don’t necessarily plan ahead – surprise yourself!” 

3 Dream up a poem with Michael Rosen

How do children’s authors get their ideas for writing? Daydreaming can be an important part of it.

Spending time thinking about a topic, linking it to your personal experiences and allowing your mind to wander can generate fantastic ideas for stories and poems.

In Michael Rosen’s episode of Author In Your Classroom, the beloved poet and award-winning author shares some of his best writing tips and poetic techniques.

He also talks about his collection of poetry, On the Move, and why the topic of migration is so powerful for him.

“If I concentrate on a moment, I can find ways of writing about it by going to the ‘shop of ideas’”

Michael Rosen

On the Move is divided into four sections. In the first, Michael draws on his own childhood. He focuses on his perception of the war as a young boy in the second part. In the third, he explores his “missing” relatives and the Holocaust; and in the fourth, on global experiences of migration.

Using the free accompanying resources, children will have the chance to write poems based on their daydreams and personal experiences.

Activity suggestion

• Spend a minute daydreaming about your chosen idea for writing, then jot down your thoughts on the planning sheet. These can be words or phrases. Create offshoots on the diagram to link ideas.
• Think about whether any of these ideas are linked to your own personal experiences. Add further ideas to the planning sheet.
• Explore metaphors, similes and personification and think about how you could use figurative language to describe some of the ideas from the planning sheet, then write your own poem.

Browse lots more great classroom ideas in the resource pack.

Writing advice from Michael Rosen

“We think of school as being a busy place but daydreaming is very good because you go into your own mind.

“Shut your eyes – I find that helps – then sit for maybe ten seconds or even a minute and daydream. When you come out of the daydream, jot down some notes.

“You don’t have to write in sentences – just single words or phrases. This page of scribbles is food for your writing. Take any of those ideas and play with them.”  

4 Create imagery in poetry with Joseph Coelho

In this Author In Your Classroom episode, Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho explains his early writing experiences, how he collects ideas and how he uses the many poetry tools available to him when writing his poems.

He also shares how people can recognise a poem and how this differs from prose.

“I want to see more and more children and adults seeing poetry as something they can do”

Joseph Coelho

He reads his poem This Bear, taken from his poetry collection Poems Aloud: An Anthology of Poems to be Read Aloud and talks about how, in this collection of poems, he gives suggestions for how the poem should be read.

Use our free resources to read and explore Joseph’s poem This Bear, then investigate the figurative language that Coelho has used from his ‘poetry toolbox’.

Activity suggestion

• Discuss different examples of figurative language and other tools that can be used when writing poetry using the posters provided in the resource pack.
• Annotate a copy of the poem This Bear (Worksheet 2) to show the tools Joseph Coelho has used.
• Explore the Poetry Prompts Library that Joseph is creating with the Book Trust to inspire everyone to write poetry.
• Choose one prompt to focus on. Use Planning Sheet 1 to jot down ideas for a poem based on the chosen prompt, then go ahead and write it.

There’s lot more activity ideas in the resource pack.

Writing advice from Joseph Coelho

“I tend to think that writer’s block doesn’t really exist. I think what happens is we fail to take note of our ideas when they arrive.

“It’s very easy to remedy that. You need to keep a notebook with you at all times. We all have brilliant ideas but they just come at weird times – in the middle of the night, first thing in the morning, on your way to or from school, during lunch break or playtime.

“But If you’ve got a little notebook and a little pencil with you you can note down those ideas – it might be a word, a sentence, the idea for a poem or a story or a turn of phrase.

“When I come to sit at my computer, if I’m stuck for ideas I can turn to my notebook and look through all the different ideas I’ve had over the last few days, weeks, months, years even.”

5 Imagine a cast of characters with Lauren Child

Characters are vital when creating great stories. They guide the reader through their journey and great children’s authors give us more information about their fantastic characters along the way.

Children’s author and illustrator Lauren Child has created many ‘larger than life’ characters, such as Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean.

She’s also reimagined the classic character of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. In Pippi Longstocking Goes Aboard, Lauren brings Pippi’s character and enthusiasm for life alive on the page.

“A little thought could be the beginning of a big idea”

Lauren Child

In this episode, Lauren spends an uplifting half an hour discussing her own characters, the challenge of illustrating other people’s words, and how to spot a good idea when one comes along.

Use the exclusive free resources to help pupils create their own characters and illustrations while thinking about their back story.

Children will need to notice small things that they can combine to create ideas for a story using some of their newly-created characters, either bringing them into Pippi’s world or writing their own stories.

Activity suggestion

• Use Planning Sheet 1 to jot down ideas for a new cast of characters that could be used in a story.
• Discuss character ideas with friends and note down any extra ideas you have.
• Choose one character to develop further. Use Planning Sheet 2 to create a profile of them. Add rough illustrations that show the character’s personality.
• Sit for a moment or two and look and listen to what is going on around you. Create a class list of things that people noticed. Build upon these ideas to create a story.

Browse plenty more ideas to go alongside the podcast in the resource pack.

Writing advice from Lauren Child

“I write stories over years and decades. I have these little fragments of stories – some are nearly finished, some are in their early stages. And I gradually, gradually get to them.

“Some of them I look at and think, ‘Oh my goodness, no! What were you thinking of?’. But some I keep returning to. And they change, then change into something else. And then, finally, I find the story in it.”

6 Explore weird facts with Frank Cottrell-Boyce

There are many weird and wonderful facts that seem impossible – but are, in fact, actually true. In this episode, the children’s author Frank Cottrell-Boyce takes pupils on a journey of adventure and mystery with his book Noah’s Gold.

“There is something in your head that might never have been in anyone else’s head!”

Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Throughout the story, Frank sensitively and humorously explores how our unquestioning reliance on technology can weaken our mind and survival skills – and wonders whether perhaps we should sometimes leave our mobile phones switched off…

Explore the free resources pack to help pupils write stories of their own, based on a weird and wonderful fact.

Activity suggestion

• Think about any weird and wonderful facts that you know. Create a class list of suggestions.
• On Planning Sheet 1, jot down your favourite facts, then develop one further using Planning Sheet 2. Make a note of events that could link to the fact. Think of as many ideas as you can.
• Plan your own funny short story based on your weird and wonderful fact, thinking of a problem and how it might be solved.

Browse all the classroom ideas by downloading the resource pack.

Writing advice from Frank Cottrell-Boyce

“People always ask writers where their ideas come from. The real truth is that ideas come when you start. You only need just enough of an idea to start. And as soon as you start writing, other ideas start to come.

“Begin the journey – you might end up somewhere else completely but you just need the courage to start writing. Once you get going, you’ll have better ideas.” 

7 Find your voice with Benjamin Zephaniah

There’s nothing quite like that sensation when you settle down to read a book and a character speaks to you so clearly that it’s like they’re there in the room with you.

You’re there sharing their adventures, seeing the world through their eyes, feeling what they feel.

Through a great story we can see ourselves and our own experiences mirrored back to us. Stories for children can also act as a window, giving us the chance to look into another world or see things from the perspective of a character very different from us.

“If you don’t write your story… somebody will write it for you”

Benjamin Zephaniah

It takes skill to write like this, but although tricky to master, it can be a hugely motivating and rewarding skill to explore in the classroom with young writers.

Of the many children’s authors we might turn to for inspiration for this aspect of writing, few come more highly-qualified than the much-loved poet and author Benjamin Zephaniah.

In this episode, Benjamin explains how and why he writes and discusses the historical truth behind his novel, Windrush Child. He also shares powerful advice for pupils who struggle to find their voice and make it heard.

Use the free resources pack to encourage pupils to write their own stories featuring a powerful voice – either their own or in role as a character from history.

Activity suggestion

• Think about a story from your own life that would be good to tell – it can be something small or big, funny or dramatic. Jot down ideas on Planning Sheet 1.
• Now think about if there are any stories from history that you’d like to tell. This could be because you know lots about a particular period or think there is a good lesson to be learnt. Use Planning Sheet 2 to make a note of ideas. Think about who would narrate the story – someone who was affected by the event works best. Share your research in groups or as a class.
• Choose either Plan 1 or Plan 2 and write your own first-person story with a strong narrative voice.

Find lots more detail and other ideas in the downloadable resource pack.

Writing advice from Benjamin Zephaniah

“What people don’t realise is you never get it right first time. Writing is not about writing – it’s about rewriting. Even when you’ve done that you need a good editor. The best writers in the world have the best editors in the world.

“A good editor can read one of my publications like they’re seven years old, then like they’re 50 years old. It’s an amazing talent and one that I don’t have.”  

8 Create magical creatures with Cressida Cowell

Former Children’s Laureate and legendary children’s author Cressida Cowell is the creator of the beloved How to Train Your Dragon series. Her captivating The Wizards of Once books are also full of magical creatures that will terrify and delight children (often both at the same time!).

“It’s not about your handwriting or your spelling, and it’s not a race – it’s about your ideas”

Cressida Cowell

There are few challenges more motivating and exciting than creating brand new magical creatures and then writing about them. As a task, it allows children to use their imagination and think creatively, with the added bonus that there’s no way they can get it wrong.

This episode, and the accompanying resources, are the perfect way to engage young writers, especially those who perhaps feel that writing isn’t for them.

Use the free accompanying resource pack to give children the chance to create a new magical creature and then write a scene from a story featuring their invention, learning from Cressida Cowell herself.

Activity suggestion

• Explain to pupils that just like Cressida, they’re going to use their real experiences, research and their imagination to invent a brand-new magical creature.
• Use books or the internet to research real interesting creatures and record the details on Planning Sheet 1.
• Next, use Planning Sheet 2 to draw your creature and record your ideas.
• Use Planning Sheet 3 to collect language and ideas to describe the creature.
• Invent some examples of indirect description for your create and record these on Planning Sheet 4.
• Use the planning sheets to help you write a short description of your magical creature, including carefully chosen adjectives, verbs and adverbs for description, similes, metaphors and indirect description.

Find lots more advice and extra activity ideas in the resource pack.

Writing advice from Cressida Cowell

“Writing is like telling a really big lie. The more detail you put in, and the more you base it on a grain of truth, the more it comes alive in your reader’s head.

“If I say my character had a big red beard, can you see the beard in your head? Sort of.

“But if I say Gob had a beard like exploding fireworks or a hedgehog struck by lightning, you can see the beard a bit more clearly because I’ve based it on something true.”

9 Plan a plot with Robin Stevens

An important aspect of great story writing is planning a plot. This is something children at primary school can find tricky.

“If it’s not enhancing the plot, it’s just dead words – even if they’re beautiful”

Robin Stevens

A story can easily end up being a list of things that happen to the main character, rather than a real narrative with a beginning, middle and end.

Luckily, Robin Stevens, author of the award-winning Murder Most Unladylike series is on hand in this episode to offer tips and advice for planning a brilliant plot. Use the free resource pack to help KS2 pupils write their own mystery story.

Activity suggestion

• Work in pairs using Planning Sheet 1 to dream up a new detective character for a mystery story.
• Next, devise some possible settings for your story that fit the detective you’ve created.
• Now think about some different crimes and victims that link to this setting. Share ideas with a partner or in small groups.
• Plan who the suspects will be and what clues might incriminate them, then devise a resolution for the story, focusing on trying to surprise the reader.
• Conclude by writing a mystery story from the perspective of the detective, using all of your previous planning to help.

Find lots more ideas and advice in the podcast and resource pack.

Writing advice from Robin Stevens

“I have days where I feel like I don’t have much inspiration. On other days I’m desperate to write and the words flow out of me.

“I do think it’s important for me to keep going on days that I don’t feel wildly inspired, because a lot of writing is about getting the words out. Then you can go back and make them better later.”

10 Create a supervillain with Liz Pichon

There have been many supervillains in both stories and film – think of the Child Catcher, Bond villains and Voldemort, to name a few. Writers have always created fantastic baddies that we both love and despise.

In this episode of Author in Your Classroom, Liz Pichon discusses her book Shoe Wars. It’s an hilarious story that was inspired by a real falling out between two brothers who made shoes.

“The good thing about villains is that they are great fun to write about”

Liz Pichon

Liz discusses where her ideas for stories come from and why it is so much fun creating villains and the story world that they live in.

Inspired by Liz, give children the chance to collect ideas that they could use to write stories and create their own supervillains.

Use the free resource pack to explore the writing techniques that Liz Pichon uses in the extract from the book that she reads in the podcast, then create your own descriptions of a villain entering a scene.

Activity suggestion

• Use Planning Sheet 1 to jot down ideas for stories. Include things you remember from conversations, things that have happened to you or things that interest you.
• Discuss your story ideas with peers. Are there any that are worth combining to create a great story idea?
• Think about how you can include a villain in your story. Use Planning Sheet 2 to draw them. Add information about how they behave and why.
• Write a scene showing a supervillain making an entrance. Use writing techniques such as alliteration, expanded noun phrases, similes and dialogue.

Writing advice from Liz Pichon

“Get yourself a little notebook. Write things in there and stick pictures in, otherwise it’s so easy to forget your ideas.

“If one of your friends says something funny to you, write it down. If somebody’s got a funny name or you see a funny picture, write it down.

“Those are the things that you can go back to and that might help you to tell a story later on. I do that all the time because I’ve got terrible memory.” 

Author visits to schools

Listening to Author In Your Classroom, and using the accompanying free resources, is like having children’s authors visiting your classroom, but without any of the hassle.

Because the podcast is free, there’s also great savings to be made – especially since it can cost anywhere between £400-£750 on average to arrange for children’s authors to visit your school.

Whether you’re looking for special World Book Day activities, something for Children’s Book Week, or you simply want to make the podcast a weekly activity in your classroom, Author In Your Classroom is an excellent alternative if you’re on a budget.

Desperate to hear from Philip Pullman, Philip Ardagh or Philip Reeve, even if just so we can ask them why so many of our favourite children’s authors are called Philip?

Fancy a virtual visit from Francesca Simon, Julia Donaldson, Rick Riordan or David Walliams? Get in touch with the Plazoom team to get your requests in! 

The post Children’s authors – Free KS2 virtual visit & resources with Michael Rosen, Jacqueline Wilson & more… appeared first on Teachwire.

Retrieval practice is a “simple research-based teaching strategy” that involves students retrieving and bringing information to mind. The challenge of remembering this information produces durable long-term learning.

In this episode of The Cult of Pedagogy podcast, Jennifer Gonzalez speaks to Pooja Agarwal about what retrieval practice is and how you can start incorporating it into your classroom right away.

JUMP TO A SECTION

• How to boost information recall in the classroom
  • Embed multiple-choice questions into your classroom practice
• Retrieval practice examples
  • Ancient Greece retrieval practice quiz example
• Retrieval practice activities
  • Mistakes to avoid
• Kate Jones retrieval practice templates
• More retrieval practice teaching methods
• Using retrieval practice as a revision tool

How to boost information recall in the classroom

If your pupils struggle to recall yesterday’s lesson, prompt them to retrieve information from memory by embedding regular quizzes into your curriculum design, with these ideas from Jon Hutchinson, director of training and development at the Reach Foundation…

Back in the 1880s, when Hermann Ebbinghaus measured the rate that information is lost after initially learning it, the conclusions were clear: everybody forgets things unless they revisit that information regularly.

“Everybody forgets things unless they revisit that information regularly”

These results have since been repeated in multiple contexts and under a huge variety of conditions.

In the classroom, this means that we shouldn’t be entirely surprised (or cross) by our pupils struggling to recall their initial learning from yesterday’s lesson. Indeed, it is an inevitable and perfectly natural part of the learning process.

Our job is to interrupt this forgetting, by using effective strategies to prompt children to retrieve information from memory.

Embed multiple-choice quizzes into your classroom practice

It is for this reason that, as part of our curriculum design at Reach Academy Feltham, we have embedded regular multiple-choice tests and quizzes into our curriculum design to help us reap the benefits of retrieval practice.

Aside from Ebbinghaus, our decisions have been influenced by more recent research into retrieval practice, spearheaded by professorial power couple Robert and Elizabeth Bjork (very much the Beyoncé and Jay-Z of the cognitive science world).

Retrieval strength and storage strength

They suggest that any information tucked away in our memory can be measured in two ways.

First, there is the speed at which you can recall some fact or skill: the ‘retrieval strength’.

Second, we can consider how well connected and robust the knowledge is – known as ‘storage strength’.

New information which is not linked to anything else stored in your long-term memory will have a low retrieval strength, as well as a low storage strength.

This is the reason that they write the hotel room number on your card when checking in: you will probably forget it.

By the end of the week, the retrieval strength of your hotel room number will have increased, by regularly having to recall it. However, the storage strength is likely to remain low; you probably won’t be able to recall it in a year or two.

Other information – perhaps the name of a child in your class back at primary school – could have a high storage strength (they are connected to tonnes of other memories) but a low retrieval strength (what was their name again? Patrick? Peter?).

Finally, information can have both high retrieval and high storage strength. An example might be the name of your current best friend.

This, of course, is what we are aiming for in what we teach. And based on what we know about how memory works, we think that the testing effect is an indispensable tool to achieve it.

Retrieval practice examples 

There are a few different ways that we can capitalise on this within lessons.

First, always begin a lesson with retrieval practice – a short quiz, including five, multiple-choice questions of previously learnt material.

Beginning with a retrieval practice technique ensures a calm, focused and motivational start to the lesson.

Let’s take an example. In the first lesson of our unit on Roman Britain, the class learn about how Romulus killed his brother to found the city.

Within that lesson, there will be some key facts that we don’t want the children to forget. So the very first thing that we do at the start of the next lesson is ask all children to answer the question, “According to myth, who founded Rome?”

These quizzes are no stakes. That is to say, we don’t collect in any scores, and we don’t tell children off or express disappointment if they get a question wrong. That is not the purpose.

Instead, what we are trying to do is deliberately interrupt the forgetting curve. It is better to think of this regular quizzing as a student learning event in itself, as opposed to an assessment.

“What we are trying to do is deliberately interrupt the forgetting curve”

It doesn’t really matter whether the children get the question right or wrong; they benefit either way from this effective learning technique.

Ancient Greece retrieval practice quiz example

1. In what year did Ancient Greece’s ‘Golden Age’ begin?

• 2500 BCE
• 480 BCE
• 480 CE
• 1480 CE

2. How many citizens had to vote for someone to be sent into exile?

• 6
• 60
• 600
• 6000

3. Name one Greek philosopher

4. Where were the first recorded Olympic games held?

• Athens
• Crete
• Olympia

5. Name one Greek City State

Retrieval practice activities

Writing good multiple-choice questions is devilishly difficult. Ours focus on the most important things we want children to remember from previous lessons.

A knowledge organiser is a good learning tool to start from here, as it should include the core information.

I often begin planning a lesson by asking myself, “What are the five things that I want all children to remember by the end of this lesson?” These then become the targets for quiz questions in the following lesson.

“What are the five things that I want all children to remember by the end of this lesson?”

In the example about Roman Britain above, we would include the correct answer (Romulus), but then also add in plausible distractors. These would include Remus, Julius Caesar and Tiberinus (the god who saved Romulus and Remus from the river).

Children rack their brains, circle what they think is the correct answer, then move onto the next question.

A few minutes later, I’ll switch to the next slide which has all of the correct answers on, and pupils can self-mark, correcting anything they got wrong.

While this takes place, I’ll whizz around the classroom and make a note of any common misconceptions. The whole episode takes around five minutes.

So, while quizzing may not be the flashiest or most fashionable classroom activity, there is an abundance of science outlining the learning rewards.

Mistakes to avoid

When I first began using test-enhanced learning I made a few mistakes that reduced the effectiveness of retrieval practice.

The first was using funny or wacky answers within the distractors.

Since I very much consider myself to be an as yet undiscovered comedian of world-class talent (who is, frankly, wasted on primary school children), I can’t resist popping in a humorous answer to elicit a giggle.

When asking the pupils “Why did Alexander the Great weep?” I’ll want to include an option like, “because the Nando’s in Persia had run out of chicken” (wasted, I tell you).

The problem with adding in these silly options is that they distract children from what you actually want them to remember (that “there were no more worlds to conquer”).

They’ll tell you about how funny it was to think about Alexander having a Nando’s. Some children may not get the joke and actually think Alexander the Great did eat Nando’s.

The correct answer, a wonderful piece of cultural knowledge and a useful window into the success and ambition of the Macedonian King, gets lost somewhere in laughter. The kids just remember Alexander eating a Nando’s.

“Some children may not get the joke and actually think Alexander the Great did eat Nando’s”

The second mistake is to let children look back at their notes. In doing so, we kill the benefits of the testing effect, because children are not having to try and recall from memory; they are just rereading and copying down the answer.

It may seem counterintuitive, but that effortful struggle is exactly what produces the strengthened retrieval in future.

Kate Jones retrieval practice templates

Teacher and author Kate Jones explains how to use her retrieval practice challenge grid at the start of your lesson...

I designed the retrieval practice challenge grid to help you purposefully revisit subject knowledge and content previously studied.

The questions differ based upon when the subject content was taught. The further back this was, the higher the number of points on offer.

I use this approach at the start of a lesson as it includes a wide range of questions that require students to recall information from last lesson, last week and even further back – it’s a simple and efficient way to begin.

Five a day method

We are all familiar with the ‘five a day’ message as it applies to including portions of fruit and/or vegetables as part of our daily routine to stay healthy.

This concept can be applied to the classroom with a twist, focusing on daily review of five a day to promote healthy retrieval. It could simply be five quiz questions to start the lesson.

Another idea is to have five keywords on the board. Students must define each one or write a paragraph summarising previous learning including all five words. Alternatively, they can create five questions where each keyword is the answer.

Below you can see examples of teachers using retrieval practice tests in a number of different ways to encourage effective retrieval practice.

More retrieval practice teaching methods

Make sure your students can actually use the information you’ve spent all that time putting into their heads with these helpful tips from teacher and author Paul Wright…

Recall checks

Look at your scheme of learning for a half term. Decide what the key takeaway concepts or vocabulary are in that time.

Design five to eight questions that help students practise retrieving their knowledge on the topic from memory and applying it to answer the question.

Over the course of the six weeks, continue to cover the same five to eight concepts, theories or terms in your questions, but pose the questions in different ways.

Alternative dimensions

Challenge learners’ knowledge security by presenting facts from another dimension and asking them to compare these to ours, stating what the equivalent is in our dimension.

For example, say ‘In this universe, the sky is pink. What colour is it in your universe?’

Learners can select the correct answer from memory (higher challenge). Alternatively, you can scaffold the activity by making it multiple choice.

Try throwing in some questions where the answer is already correct (ie where something is the same in both dimensions) and see if they notice!

Memorise this…

Prepare a three-slide presentation:

• 1 – show things you want the students to remember
• 2 – black screen with a countdown timer in the centre
• 3 – space for items to be written in or revealed

Explain that the students will be given time to look at the first slide and store the information in their minds, without writing anything down.

When the screen goes black, the timer starts. Pupils must write down as much information as they can remember. When the timer ends, reveal the third slide and ask the learners to share what they’re able to recall.

What stuck?

Stand your learners behind their desks a few minutes before the lesson ends. Tell them that you’ll dismiss each person in turn when they can tell you something that has stuck with them in your lesson.

This challenges their short-term recall and allows you to challenge their ability to succinctly express knowledge they have retained.

Be fair and allow one repeat, but students can’t repeat the same thing as the person that spoke before them.

Using retrieval practice as a revision tool

Science teacher Adam Boxer explains that while retrieval practice isn’t the easiest way to revise, it’s definitely the most effective…

As teachers across the UK become more and more evidence-informed, we’re learning to ditch revision games, posters, highlighting, re-reading and mnemonics.

Instead, we’re replacing these with powerful teaching strategies such as frequent retrieval practice and low-stakes quizzing on core material.

“We’re learning to ditch revision games, posters, highlighting, re-reading and mnemonics”

In fact a paradigm shift is occurring around revision itself. We’ve moving away from a system where we teach a sequence of lessons, have a revision lesson and then a test.

Instead, we’re moving towards a system where we remove the revision lesson and replace it with frequent opportunities for retrieval practice built in to the main sequence of lessons.

These changes are possible because of how well-researched retrieval practice is. Cognitive scientists have spent decades investigating its use as a memory technique. Though nothing in science is ever beyond question, the positive results across a vast number of studies certainly seem to suggest it’s an effective method.

New discoveries

There are, however, aspects that you might not be aware of. For example, Hungarian researchers tested whether or not retrieval practice could help mitigate the debilitating cognitive effects of being in a high stress environment.

Psychologists (and teachers!) have known for a long time that a little bit of stress is a good thing in terms of student performance. However, too much stress can be debilitating and hinders performance.

The researchers found that the power of retrieval practice to prepare students for tests held even when they took the tests under extremely stressful conditions.

Another fascinating finding relates to “participant prediction of recall”.

Participants in a study used either re-reading or retrieval practice to learn material, but in varying amounts. After they had a set amount of time with these techniques, they were asked to predict how well they thought they would recall that information in a week or so’s time.

Participants who had done the least amount of retrieval practice thought that they would recall the most. Participants who had done the most amount of retrieval practice thought they would recall the least.

As we can probably guess by this point, results for the actual test showed the exact opposite. So participants who thought they had learned the least, actually learned the most.

Rich rewards

I think the best way to explain this finding is by thinking about the relative difficulty of the two tasks.

Re-reading is, cognitively speaking, easy to do. Reading is easy. When we re-read material we have a voice in our head saying, “Yes, I got that”, no problem.

But there is a difference between understanding something and committing it to long-term memory.

You can probably understand this article very easily, but if you sat a test on it next week would you remember all, or even most, of its details? Probably not.

“When we re-read material we have a voice in our head saying, “Yes, I got that””

In order to prepare yourself for such a test you would have to expend serious mental effort. And in the short term it would certainly feel like you weren’t getting anywhere. It would feel painful, slow, and frustrating.

But what if you did put in that effort, and it worked out? What if you persevered through that short-term pain and feeling of frustration? Imagine you really committed yourself to retrieval practice, and were duly rewarded in a test.

What would that feel like?

No doubt, you would probably feel quite proud of yourself. You would start to feel competent in whatever subject you had decided to really commit to.

And psychologists point to competence as an incredibly powerful driver of long term motivation. As we get better at things, we start to enjoy them more.

“In the short term, your students will hate retrieval practice”

In the short term, your students will hate retrieval practice. They will hate the feeling of not knowing an answer or getting things only partially correct. But the science is clear: it works.

If you can build a culture that looks beyond that short term pain and understands that it’s worth it in the long-term, your students will truly fly.

The post Retrieval practice in the classroom – Boost long-term knowledge retention with this powerful learning strategy appeared first on Teachwire.

We’ve picked out a selection of resources that can help consolidate children’s learning and prepare them for SATs, without making it feel like a big, dark educational cloud is looming on the horizon…

JUMP TO A SECTION

• KS1
  • Are Year 2 SATs being scrapped?
  • English
    • Practice tests
  • Maths
• KS2
  • English
    • Practice tests
    • Spelling practice
    • Writing evidence
    • Comprehension
    • How to explicitly teach vocabulary
    • SATs prep advice
  • Maths
    • Workbook and flashcards
    • Worksheets
    • Using pictorial representations to help pupils prepare
    • Using previous SATs questions to help pupils consider links and patterns
  • Free online ten-minute tests
  • Access arrangements
• Criticisms and controversies
  • 2022 reading paper
  • 2021 SATs cancelled
  • 2017 reading SATs
  • 2017 boycott
  • 2016 reading paper
  • 2016 SATS leaks

When is SATs Week 2023?

SATs in KS2 take place between Tuesday 9th May and Friday 12th May 2023. The original schedule was changed due to the additional bank holiday in honour of the coronation of King Charles III.

The timetable is now as follows:

KS1 SATs are administered during May 2022, with schools given flexibility as to when exactly the tests take place.

When are SATs results 2023 announced?

Results will be made available to headteachers in July 2023, and passed on to parents around this time. Schools’ performances will be made public in December 2023.

SATs scaled scores 2023

Scaled scores for 2023’s SATs will be made available in July 2023. In the meantime you can look at SATs scaled scores for 2022 here.

KS1

Are Year 2 SATs being scrapped?

Yes, they are. From the 2023-2024 academic year, KS1 SATs are becoming non-statutory.

Instead, the Standards and Testing Agency has said it will run a “full programme of primary assessments”. This will include the baseline test, phonics screen check, times tables test and KS1 assessments.

KS1 English

You can find KS1 past papers from 2018-2022 on the government website.

Year 2 SATs practice worksheets

Prepare pupils to show what they can do at the end of KS1, including in the KS1 SATs reading paper, with these fun KS1 SATs practice packs from Plazoom.

All 25 packs are based on original model texts by children’s author Mike Davies and include fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Use them to help Year 2 pupils develop comprehension and writing skills in preparation for SATs.

Download a free version of Collins KS1 English SATs Study Book. It contains clear and accessible explanations, practice questions, review questions and mixed questions.

Also on offer from Collins are these free KS1 English flashcards, covering a range of topics including sounds and syllables, apostrophes, suffixes and common exception words.

Use these KS1 Revise & Assess resources from Plazoom to help Y2 pupils to create authentic writing outcomes linked to TAF statements.

You’ll get grammar recap sessions, short daily revision blasters and more – everything you need to ensure Year 2 learners are ready to shine at the end of KS1.

There are 31 free Year 2 worksheets to download at The Mum Educates blog. Each features a mix of questions on spelling, arithmetic, reasoning and literacy – all on one sheet.

KS1 maths

Year 2 SATs maths questions

This free KS1 Maths SATs Study Book from Collins features clear and colourful explanations of every SATs topic, with lots of practice opportunities for pupils (and all answers included).

Also available from Collins are these KS1 maths flashcards covering topics such as counting forwards and backwards, more and less and place value.

If efficiency is your thing, this KS1 puzzles and problems PDF features 25 different reasoning and logic problems all in one place. It features a wide variety of questions covering costs, measurements and more.

This Reasoning and convincing at KS1 collection from NRICH features plenty of activities to improve mathematical reasoning skills, including A Bag of Marbles which gives children the chance to build on simple sorting skills and experience using logical reasoning.

KS2

KS2 English – SATs practice tests

You can find KS2 past papers from 2018-2022 on the government website.

Make sure Year 6 pupils are prepared for SATs with Plazoom’s KS2 SATs Support collection. It contains reading test practice packs, ten SPaG practice papers, writing evidence activities and fun ‘Revision Blasters’ that are linked to content domains for grammar.

Each Revision Blaster grammar pack includes a recap section for reteaching and a practise section with SATS style questions. They’re perfect for SPaG revision in Year 6.

The ten practice SPaG papers feature 12 questions which follow the same format as paper 1 of the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test. All content domains are covered across the collection at least twice.

These free grammar, punctuation and spelling practice test papers from STP Books are modelled on actual SATs exams and come with complete answers and marking guidelines.

Year 6 SATs spelling practice

If you want to focus on helping children learn and master spelling patterns, rules and exceptions, visit the Get Spelling Sorted collection on Plazoom. It’s a great repository of revision games and activities.

Use this free top 40 words spelling sheet download in Year 6 to practise these common, and sometimes tricky, words.

Year 6 SATs writing evidence

If you need to gather more independent writing examples to assess Year 6 pupils against the writing Teacher Assessment Framework, use these Year 6 SATs Writing Evidence packs from Plazoom. They’re specially designed to get children producing authentic, independent writing.

Each set of activities is linked to foundation subjects, providing opportunities for cross-curricular writing. For example, write a non-chronological report about bridges, a persuasive report about keeping healthy or a diary recount of an historical event.

Year 6 SATs comprehension

This free sample practice paper from CGP contains a reading text extract, questions and pupil-friendly answers.

If you’re looking for more Year 6 SATs reading comprehension practice PDFs, try these options from Plazoom.

Each of the three packs have been carefully designed to follow a similar format to the SATs. This means your pupils can become more familiar with their layout and improve their confidence.

Use them as practice tests or use them as part of group or whole-class reading sessions. You could also use them as smaller comprehension activities where pupils read the text and complete the questions.

Choose from Set A, Set B or Set C.

Reading paper revision tips

Use this revision guide PowerPoint from the National Literacy Trust to remind pupils of the key aspects of the reading paper before the big day.

SPaG cards

These printable SPaG cards feature the names of different terms related to spelling, punctuation and grammar, along with their definitions.

You can cut them out and laminate them, use them as a display or get children to create a SPaG dictionary or glossary. You can also use them to play a matching pairs game where children are challenged to find the correct definition for each term.

How to explicity teach vocabulary

Here, author and director of Huntington Research School, Alex Quigley, explores how explicit vocabulary instruction can help pupils, and how to go about it…

In 2016’s SATs, the infamous ‘dodo text‘ included vocabulary like ‘unearthed’, ‘drought’, ‘freshwater oasis’, ‘parched’, ‘suffocation’ and ‘extinct’. In 2017, the text on swimming the English Channel included ‘hardships’, ‘pioneering’, ‘venture’, ‘feat’ and ‘well regulated’.

Though the act of reading is brilliantly complex, the degree of difficulty with vocabulary goes a long way to determining the comprehension demand of a given text.

Renowned cognitive psychologist Dan Willingham cites evidence in his book The Reading Mind that our older pupils need to possess strong vocabulary knowledge to comprehend a given text. They need to know “about 98% of the words for comfortable comprehension”, explains Willingham.

For many of our pupils, especially those who do not read widely, they simply don’t have the breadth of vocabulary to access the challenging reading in the Key Stage assessments.

Under- and over-scaffolding

In our attempt to make reading more accessible, we can too easily underscaffold their reading. We get pupils to read harder texts earlier, in the hope that mere exposure will create more mature readers.

Conversely, we might reduce down complex texts to bitesize extracts that don’t build the necessary background knowledge for deep comprehension later on.

Faced with such a gargantuan challenge, it would be easy for teachers to sink into the depressed state many of our pupils faced when confronted with that dead dodo.

What if explicitly teaching vocabulary offered us a small but significant solution to our challenge?

Too often, we consider vocabulary development as something that simply happens incidentally.

This is understandable; after all, we develop our personal word hoard without explicit instruction. Simply by reading, talking and reading some more, we grow the breadth and depth of our lexicon.

Explicit vocabulary instruction

And yet, ample research shows that explicit vocabulary instruction can further boost vocabulary growth.

A 10-year-old who is a good reader will encounter something like one million words a year (tantamount to between 10 and 12 short novels). Crucially, approximately 20,000 of those words will prove unfamiliar.

Given this fact, we quickly recognise how essential it is for teachers to tackle vocabulary development head on.

Of course, we cannot conquer the comprehension test problem with a few practice papers in Y6. Real reading comprehension rests on years of vocabulary development and crucial background knowledge.

“Too often, we consider vocabulary development as something that simply happens incidentally”

By identifying vocabulary to teach explicitly, alongside paying attention to developing a curriculum that develops background knowledge cumulatively with a rich diet of wider reading, we can slowly but surely conquer the comprehension challenge in Y6.

Practical ways to explicitly teach vocabulary

• SEEC words: We need to actively ‘SEEC’ out words to teach. That is to say: select the crucial words to teach; explain their meaning in child-friendly examples; explore by connecting images and asking questions; finally, consolidate word knowledge by repeatedly returning to words that are taught.
• Million word challenge: Reading more whole texts is integral to developing vocabulary. The language of books is much more complex than our daily talk. Initiate a reading challenge that conveys the crucial message of how important it is for children to possess a wealth of words. This is a crucial notion for everyone in the school community.
• Record ‘keystone’ words: There are many examples of children recording and charting their vocabulary development, whether it’s in word records or hoards, as word wizards or detectives. By foregrounding vocabulary in this way, we offer opportunities for children to develop ‘word consciousness’. This is a crucial awareness that words have depth and richness.
• Dictionary training: Pupils can struggle to use dictionaries if they have a limited vocabulary, but specific editions designed for use by children (such as visual ones) can make the process of searching out meanings much more successful. Collins’ COBUILD dictionary (based on the frequency of words) is good for practical use.

SATs preparation Year 6 advice

Make sure children get the scores they deserve with these last-minute and not-so-last-minute SATS checks from Shareen Mayers…

Step 1 – Be aware of the NC expectations for Y6

It can be tempting to enter revision mode right from the start of Y6, but don’t forget there are some topics that won’t yet have been taught.

There are, of course, key areas that will need to be revised through the year. However, the following list picks out the parts of grammar that are unique to your pupils’ final year at primary school:

• Semi-colon and colon
• Bullet points
• Subject and object
• Synonym and antonym
• Ellipsis
• Hyphen
• Active and passive

Step 2 – Review previous year groups

The grammar and reading papers contain many questions about topics not first taught in Y6.

Some Y3 and Y4 teachers openly admit to avoiding grammar areas they are not confident about teaching. It’s not fair to leave it all to Y6, but we all know this sometimes happens!

“It’s not fair to leave it all to Y6, but we all know this sometimes happens!”

Revise content from previous year groups throughout the year and save explicity teaching test techniques until later on in the spring term.

For example, when teaching semi colons and colons, also revise what makes a sentence. Knowledge of an independent clause is needed to understand when and how to use a semi colon.

Step 3 – Drip in test-style questions

Repetition is vital. The more pupils encounter test-style questions in a practical and fun context, the less fazed they will be when it comes to the actual test.

In practice, this simply means that when completing a reading lesson, adjust your questioning.

For example, instead of saying, ‘Why does the character…’, this could be tweaked to ‘According to the text, what impression do you get of the character…’.

Step 4 – Keep reading for pleasure and information

The way to develop vocabulary and be exposed to grammar in context is to read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts.

This broadens pupils’ experiences and ensures they have a rich vocabulary and knowledge to prepare for the demands of the tests.

Step 5 – Explicitly teach test techniques

Teaching test techniques is sometimes addressed by giving pupils endless past papers to complete. This is nearly always (in my experience) a useless and boring activity.

There is a place for pupils to experience what a whole paper looks like (explored in Step 9) but there is a benefit to explicitly teaching skills.

For example, pupils need to be clear about the question stems used in the reading paper. They also need to have an in-depth understanding of the vocabulary.

An ‘impression’ is normally an inference question, so pupils need to find clues in the text to support their answer.

When answering fact and opinion questions, pupils need to think about whether a statement is true or false. In addition, is it what someone thinks or feels and is it stated or implied?

This level of explicit teaching will support pupils’ understanding of reading test vocabulary.

Reading vocabulary to teach

• According to…
• How can you tell…
• Find and copy…
• Give two impressions…
• Fact and opinion
• Give the best summary…
• What does this suggest…
• Using evidence from the text to support your answer…

Step 6 – Avoid errors in the grammar test

One important factor concerning the grammar test is that there are very definite rules about how to answer the questions.

Answers need to be clear and unambiguous. Prefixes and suffixes, verbs, contractions and plurals need to be spelt accurately and the correct number of boxes should to be ticked.

It is so frustrating when pupils miss a standard because of small errors, but we’ve all seen it.

Step 7 – Use fun and interactive revision strategies

Who says that revision has to be dull? I often hear this and it doesn’t reflect my experience at all.

Teaching inference skills can easily be covered by exploring the thoughts and feelings of characters in pop songs.

Grammar should be explored in context. For instance, try creating wanted posters for word classes where pupils need to describe their function.

The best way to consolidate learning is to get pupils to teach other pupils in the class. Give them an area of focus and let them create a poster or worksheet that they will present to the rest of the class.

Being able to fully explain a concept to someone else shows you have really internalised the knowledge.

Step 8 – Involve families where possible

Significantly, I always hear that some families are reluctant to attend information sessions. One of the key ways to get parents and families involved is through – you’ve guessed it – food!

In the spring term, entice your families with a SATs information event that includes the important stuff – like when the tests are, what they include and how parents can help at home. Just don’t forget the biscuits and cake!

Step 9 – Give pupils experience of the test papers

Whilst it’s important to continue to teach and to drip test-style questions throughout Y6, pupils still need to be aware of the timings. This is especially true for the reading paper where they have 60 minutes to read through and answer questions for three or four texts.

Rapid retrieval is needed for this. Just try to keep test experience to a minimum.

Step 10 – Work on whole-school strategies

Having taught my own Y6 classes for ten years and been a booster group teacher, I have seen the benefits of involving and training the whole school.

The more all teachers see the test papers, have CPD opportunities to increase their subject knowledge, and the more senior leaders promote a whole-school responsibility for SATs, the higher the likelihood of success.

Even more SATs preparation ideas…

1. Tackling tough words

Teaching vocabulary skills in context is essential. Whilst we cannot predict the words that will appear on the test, we can give pupils quick strategies that will support them, whatever they encounter.

For example, take a classical text and replace certain words with nonsense words. Can the children think of plausible substitutions for your replacements? (I sometimes add capital letters to nonsense words to indicate they might be proper nouns.)

Pupils should be able to deduce what each word might be from the context.

2. Speed searches

Maintain a focus on scanning skills under timed conditions. Quick-fire activities, such as Where’s Wally or spot the difference, are perfect for continuing to develop retrieval skills before they are applied to more complex texts.

3. It’s not what ‘you’ think

It is crucial for pupils to recognise that all answers will be based on the test and not their own views.

Questions that contain the word ‘you’ are somewhat misleading. For example, ‘How can you tell…?’ ‘Give two impressions this gives you.’ Reinforce that evidence is found in the text.

4. Don’t repeat the question

This might seem like an obvious point, but it is crucial that pupils do not repeat the question stem in their answer – but rather explain it.

For example, if the question is ‘Why were the dodos curious and unafraid?’, it’s not unusual in instances like this for children to write something along the lines of, “Because they were unafraid”. This means they’ll miss out on a mark.

To avoid this, work on using synonyms and explaining answers.

5. Perfect punctuation

Accuracy is extremely important. The punctuation of direct speech will only be creditworthy if the closing punctuation is placed inside the final inverted commas.

In previous tests pupils have lost marks for inconsistencies such as mixed use of inverted commas (eg ‘ and “).

6. Read questions closely

‘Write a sentence using the word ‘point’ as a verb. Do not change the word.’

In questions like this, make sure children follow the instruction closely.

Pupils have lost marks in the past for adding a suffix (eg ‘pointed’ or ‘pointing’). They also lost marks for not starting with a capital letter and ending with appropriate punctuation.

7. Watch for stray capitals

If pupils are asked to write a sentence containing an adverb they may be penalised if they spell the adverb incorrectly or if they start the adverb with a capital letter in the middle of a sentence.

Don’t let your pupils miss out due to simple errors.

8. Avoid getting caught out

Prefixes, suffixes, verb forms and plurals must be spelt correctly.

One question in the 2016 grammar paper required pupils to change the word ‘caught’ to the present tense. The answer is ‘catch’, but even though pupils knew the answer, they lost marks for spelling ‘catch’ incorrectly.

Again, spelling does count within the grammar test – even though there is a separate spelling paper.

KS2 maths

The KS2 maths SATs test is split into the three papers – and it’s not easy to predict which topics will come up in each one.

Area and perimeter won’t show up in paper 1 (arithmetic) as this is purely a calculation paper. On paper 1, fractions questions will always involve fractions of amounts or multiplying or dividing fractions.  

Papers 2 and 3 usually have questions in context. Measures, statistics and shape and space will only come up on these papers.  

You can view a list of what can potentially be included in the papers on a government document called Mathematics Test Framework. This lists all the areas that could be tested – but they aren’t all included every year.

Free maths workbook

This free KS2 Maths Study Book from Collins features clear and accessible explanations, quick tests, practice questions and more.

Also available from Collins is this free set of KS2 maths flashcards.

Maths SATs questions

Fractions SATs questions

Using these free fractions SATs questions from experienced maths teacher David Morse will help to test and extend students’ understanding, as well as helping them to prepare for SATs.

You can print the eight-page PDF and turn it into an A4 or A5 booklet. You can also display the solutions on your whiteboard, making feedback more efficient.

The download contains questions about fractions of a shape and identifying how much of a shape has been shaded. It’s perfect for using in class or as homework.

Fraction arithmetic questions

David Morse has also created this free fraction arithmetic questions pack for KS2 SATs practice. It’s a 12-page PDF featuring 32 questions for pupils to have a go at.

Equivalent fractions Year 6 questions

These free printable equivalent fractions Year 6 questions have fully-worked solutions which can be displayed on a whiteboard.

More KS2 maths worksheets

The folks at My Mini Maths have created 30 free KS2 arithmetic practice papers that will improve pupils’ understanding, recall and confidence. There’s also a video tutorial that you can show to pupils:

Maths Blog has a whole host of printable KS2 maths booster worksheets that pupils can print off at school or at home. There are 14 PDFs for number-related questions, three for shape and four each for time and graphs.

Head over to Maths Made Easy to find more KS2 SATs practice papers. There’s two for arithmetic and four for reasoning to try.

SATs questions linked to contents domain

Headteacher Mr T has created a free download laying out Year 6 SATs questions linked to the contents domain.

Year 6 maths revision

Use pictorial representations to help Y6 pupils prepare

Here, sadly missed White Rose Maths senior primary maths specialist Beth Smith explains why giving pupils visual tools will help them make clear mathematical links come test time…

In the run-up to Y6 SATs, we’re faced with not only recapping previous years’ learning but also teaching the new Y6 content of the curriculum.

In order to ensure SATs don’t turn into a memory test, we need to make clear links between new learning and prior knowledge so children can build on their understanding, rather than starting afresh with every new concept.

Equal groups

One of the most important concepts that children need to understand is the use of equal groups throughout the curriculum.

In KS1, children are introduced to equal groups within multiplication and division. This starts with a basic understanding that 2 × 3 is two equal groups of three (or three equal groups of two) before deepening their understanding by comparing equal groups.

Take this example from the 2016 KS1 SATs:

Complete the number sentence below.
3 x 8 = 2 x __

Using a bar model, children can visualise the equal parts in order to help them solve the problem.

Drawing the bar model supports us to decide which calculation to use. Here, we need to find out the total of the each bar. If we multiply 3 by 8, we find the total of the bar is 24.

Once we have found the total, we can see that as the bars are equal. The second bar will also be worth 24 but this time it is divided into two equal parts.

Therefore, to find the missing information, we need to divide 24 by 2 to find our missing box is 12.

The use of the bar model for this question helps to support children to see how 24 is split into three equal parts on the top bar and into two equal parts on the bottom bar.

Using this approach in KS2

Moving into KS2 you can start to explore factors, fractions or percentages of 24.

All would involve dividing 24 into equal parts. Using a consistent pictorial method will help children see the links between the concepts.

Here’s a question from the 2017 KS2 reasoning paper.

3 pineapples cost the same as 2 mangoes. One mango costs £1.35. How much does one pineapple cost?

Again, let’s use a bar model to visualise the problem:

Here we can see that we need to find two equal groups of £1.35 to make £2.70 and then we need to divide £2.70 between three equal groups to find that one pineapple would cost 90p.

Interestingly, if we look at the bar models we have used for the KS1 and the KS2 question, they are pretty much identical. The only difference is the numbers used and the calculations required. The structure of the problem is the same.

Representing your thinking

In order to support children to tackle problems like this, we need to encourage pupils to represent their thinking through pictorial representations.

As teachers, we need to model and explain the clear links between questions. Another concept that builds upon children’s prior understanding of equal groups is ratio. Take this question for example:

Lucy and Jemima share £30 in the ratio 2:3. How much money does Lucy receive?

Here is a worked example on a bar model:

The bar model supports the procedural understanding of calculating ratio by dividing the amount by the total number of equal parts.

We can also stretch children’s thinking to answer questions such as ‘How much more money does Jemima have?’ or ‘Lucy and Jemima share some money in the ratio 2:3. If Lucy has £24, how much money do they have altogether?’

Once again, within ratio, the understanding of equal parts is essential to children’s understanding.

If we can help children to understand equal groups and parts clearly and help them to use bar models to represent their thinking, we can give all children the tools to tackle more complex problems.

Using previous SATs questions to help pupils consider links and patterns

There’s more advice here from the brilliant Beth Smith about teaching problem-solving strategies…

In the EEF’s research into improving mathematics in KS2 and KS3 (2018), one of its eight recommendations was to teach pupils strategies for solving problems.

It then provided the following suggestions:

• If pupils lack a well-rehearsed and readily available method to solve a problem, they need to draw on problem-solving strategies to make sense of the unfamiliar situation.
• Select problem-solving tasks for which pupils do not have ready-made solutions.
• Teach them to use and compare different approaches.
• Show them how to interrogate and use their existing knowledge to solve problems.
• Use worked examples to enable pupils to analyse the use of different strategies.
• Require pupils to monitor, reflect on, and communicate their problem solving.

Let’s consider some of these suggestions in relation to questions taken from SATs and White Rose Maths assessments.

Bar modelling

Firstly, bar modelling can be a brilliant tool to help children make sense of the information they are given.

Take this question from the 2018 SATs:

Amina is making designs with two different shapes. She gives each shape a value.

Calculate the value of each shape.

Encourage children to use a bar model to draw out what they know.

Notice the way the different colours of shapes are grouped together. This helps children to see what is the same and what is different about the bars.

Once the starting bar model has been drawn, children can start to consider what else they can find out.

The first step in this model is to consider what the difference between the designs is and therefore what the value of the larger shape is.

The annotated bar model below shows how this can be modelled:

Introduce a similar problem

An important aspect of teaching problem-solving is to then provide children with another problem with a similar structure to practise their skills.

Providing the same problem with different numbers takes the problem-solving elements away and moves the question more towards fluency.

However, another problem with a similar structure but a different context allows children to refine their thinking.

Take this question from the Y6 White Rose Maths spring assessment:

The mass of a box containing 6 tins of beans is 7.5kg. When 2 tins of beans are removed, the mass of the box is 5.1kg. What is the mass of one tin of beans?

The situation is completely different. However, when placed into a bar model children can use similar skills to solve the problem.

Possibility of errors

Next, let’s consider how we can use problem-solving questions to support children to apply their knowledge and skills.

Many questions require children to calculate both mentally and through written methods, practising the skills they have acquired.

In the question below, children add and subtract to find change in a money problem:

John buys one toy car (£1.49) and one pack of stickers (£1.64). How much change does John get?

Most commonly, children will use the following method:

£1.49 + £1.64 = £3.13 £10 – £3.13 = £6.87

Some pupils will be able to attempt this mentally. However, others will rely on written methods and this can bring the possibility of errors, especially when calculating £10.00 – £3.13. Children have to complete multiple exchanges, which may lead to errors.

Constant difference

A second method, shown below, addresses this issue head on.

When subtracting, we can apply the idea of constant difference. If we add or subtract the same amount to both numbers in the subtraction, the difference will remain the same.

Subtracting one penny off both amounts (£10 and £3.13) leads to a much easier subtraction without any exchanging.

£1.49 + £1.64 = £3.13 £9.99 – £3.12 = £6.87

Consider how this method can be applied to the following questions:

Ken is playing a game. He has 4,289 points. Then he scores another 355 points. Ken’s target is 6,000 points. How many more points does Ken need to reach his target? (2019 KS2 SATs)

Morgan is running a 10 kilometre race. So far, she has run 1,340 metres. How far does she have left to run? (White Rose Maths Y6 summer)

Comparing different approaches

Finally, let’s consider how we can use and compare different approaches.

The below question from the 2019 SATs test is, on the surface, a problem requiring a number of steps involving multiplication and addition:

Layla makes jewellery to sell at a school fair. Each bracelet has 53 beads. She makes 68 bracelets. Each necklace has 105 beads. She makes 34 necklaces. How many beads does Layla use altogether?

Many children would approach this problem by using the numbers they are given and calculating in three steps:

The second method, below, shows a link between the calculations.

If we notice the relationship between 34 and 68 in the question, we can use that to help us with our calculations.

Remember, when multiplying, if we half one number and double the other number, the product remains the same:

A third method uses the idea from method two but takes it a step further, using the idea that 105 x 34 + 106 x 34 is equal to 211 x 34.

Interestingly, this is the simplest multiplication to complete, with the least exchanges:

Number sense

Comparing the methods highlights the need for number sense.

Instead of diving straight into written methods, children should look at the numbers they are using and consider if they can see any links or patterns.

Sometimes there won’t be any there, but when the links are there, it can support with calculating more efficiently.

Consider how you could use this idea when answering the question below, taken from the 2018 SATs:

Ken buys 3 large boxes and 2 small boxes of chocolates. Each large box has 48 chocolates. Each small box has 24 chocolates. How many chocolates did Ken buy altogether?

In conclusion, it’s vital that we consider how we teach problem-solving strategies.

Highlighting different methods can lead to mathematical discussion and the chance to unpick the structure of a problem.

Bar modelling can represent the problem and support children with what operations they need to use to solve the problem, giving them the starting point they need.

Free KS2 SATs online 10-minute tests

These CGP 10-Minute Tests are ideal for SATs revision in Year 6. There are six tests to choose from – three for maths and three for English.

All the answers are explained at the end of each test, so it’s easy to spot any areas that need a little extra work.

If you’re looking for an offline solution, these SATs 10-Minute Tests downloads from Schofield and Sims cover maths and English for both KS1 and KS2.

Here’s another couple of free online 10-minute test to try, from STP Books. There’s one focusing on KS2 grammar and punctuation and another on KS2 spelling.

KS2 SATs access arrangements

Some pupils with specific needs may need additional arrangements so they can take part in the 2023 KS2 SATs.

This could include, among other things, additional time to complete the test, the use of electronic aids or the use of rest breaks.

Read the government’s guidance for schools about access arrangements here.

Criticisms and controversies

SKIP TO A SECTION

• 2022 SATs
• 2021 SATs
• 2017 SATs
• 2016 SATs

2022 reading paper and 11+ crossover

In 2022, one anonymous primary teacher, argued that the SATs reading paper favoured the already advantaged, because a section had been on the 11+ paper earlier in the academic year...

At the end of 2022’s English reading SATs paper, something strange happened: as the children filed out of the hall, instead of the usual ashen-faced signs of exhaustion and stress, a good number came out positively beaming.

“We’ve done this before!” they said. “That was so easy!” 

I had never seen a reaction like that to a reading SATs paper, the most gruelling of all the papers. I had just been invigilating a small group of children who either had extra time or who were prone to panic; none of them had found it easy. 

I asked these jubilant pupils what they were talking about and was told a section had been on the 11+ paper they did earlier in the academic year. The very same extract from the very same book. 

“I was told a section had been on the 11+ paper they did earlier in the academic year”

A Traveller in Time

The controversy revolved around the third and final piece that children had to read and answer questions on. Typically, this is both the hardest piece to read and comes at a point in the exam where pupils’ stamina is often flagging.

In this case, it was an extract from a 1939 text called A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley.  

In the extract, time seems to stand still as a girl passes by a mysterious lady in old-fashioned clothing on a staircase. There is a greeting smile between the two before the girl turns and follows her, only to find she has disappeared. 

The text makes perfect sense if you are forearmed – as many of my children were – with the knowledge that the lady comes from the Elizabethan era and that we are in a time-slip story.

Without this knowledge, as was the case for most of the children who did not take the 11+, it would be easy to read this story literally and miss the symbolic value of much of the detail – particularly if they were struggling to stay on time.  

Notifying the STA

When I notified the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), they argued that they ‘cannot entirely mitigate against pupils having read certain texts, or against them being used by other organisations.’

They also argued that checking the texts against other tests would be ‘impractical and expensive.’ 

“They argued that they ‘cannot entirely mitigate against pupils have read certain texts'”

Of course, if you choose to use a real and readily available text in the exam there is always a chance children would have encountered it before. It would therefore make sense for them to write the texts from scratch (or at least take a cursory glance at the biggest test our Y6 children had ever faced).

With no SATs in 2020 or 2021 due to Covid, the STA had three years to get these tests right and they did not succeed.

It failed at the single most important part of its job. After all, what is the point in standardised testing other than to provide a fair and impartial measure of the children’s abilities? 

To allow a situation where a particular (often privileged) demographic of the cohort is at an advantage seems to be allowing, and possibly encouraging, bias.  

2021 SATs cancelled

In late 2020, Matthew Kleiner-Mann, leader of of Ivy Learning Trust (@ivy_trust), argued that SATs should not be scrapped. In January 2021 the government did indeed go on to cancel 2021 SATs, recognising that the tests would be “an additional burden on schools” during Covid…

While teachers hate SATs (and parents love them), the vast majority of children simply accept them as part of school life. It’s just something they do at the end of school; a rite of passage like the class photo or school disco.

The prospect of them not being there is another example of how Covid-19 has robbed them of normality.

After a tumultuous few months, which have seen their lives being turned upside down, children are really happy to be back at school. They’re glad of their routine, of learning, of normal life.

So when I received an email asking me, along with dozens of other school leaders, to sign a petition to stop SATs going ahead in 2021, I wondered why people felt so strongly about it.

Is it about Covid-19, or simply a longstanding dislike of SATs? Because, whether you agree with SATs or not, now is not the right time for this argument.

Additional stress

First let’s look at the possible effect of SATs on the children taking them. Some leaders have argued that children may feel additional and unnecessary stress because of these tests on top of the ongoing pressures of Covid-19.

However, if children are feeling under pressure about SATs, then their schools are doing it wrong. This ‘cramming’ for tests should have been wiped out years ago.

“This ‘cramming’ for tests should have been wiped out years ago”

Some children have undoubtedly had a difficult time during lockdown and will need additional support but this should be dealt with individually, not by taking SATs away from everyone.

And fundamentally, SATs aren’t for children. They don’t – or at least they shouldn’t – care about the results.

They’re not like GCSEs or A-levels that have to go on your CV permanently. You can’t ‘fail’ your SATs and they don’t affect your future.

SATs are about understanding progress. They help parents to know if their child is doing OK, if they’re ready for secondary school and if they need extra support.

They help primary schools see how pupils are progressing and secondary schools understand where children are at.

Accountability

Schools should be accountable for the progress children have made and we need to know that result. You’re only able to allocate resources if you understand where the gaps are.

If we don’t find out whether a child is ready for secondary school or not, and what additional support they need, we’re doing them a huge disservice.

“I don’t believe SATs are a problem in themselves”

I don’t believe SATs are a problem in themselves. They give a good indication of how a child is progressing through their education, benchmarked nationally.

Level playing field

The primary concern now is that the same level of accountability will be applied to all schools, when they’ve had very different experiences during Covid-19 based on factors beyond their control. This includes the communities they serve, digital poverty, local outbreaks or lockdowns.

Because of these factors, it’s difficult to ensure a level playing field and schools may feel unfairly judged.

This absolutely needs to be acknowledged and addressed, but not by cancelling SATs altogether. Instead, there should be a deeper understanding and acceptance that not all schools have had the same experience in the 18 months leading up to the tests.

We need to know where a Y6 child is at, but the school shouldn’t be punished if pupils haven’t progressed as expected because of factors beyond their control.

SATs should go ahead, but with the proviso that future judgements of the school take into account the actual experiences of children during lockdown, what schools did to support their communities with home learning, and progress made in closing any gaps since schools have reopened fully.

Eleanor Regan, a researcher at the EDSK think tank, disagreed with Matthew Kleiner-Mann, arguing that SATs have a distorting and damaging effect on schools. She’s calling for adaptive online tests instead…

Overbearing one-off tests such as SATs inevitably encourage a narrowing of the curriculum, and school leaders and teachers are put in an impossible position.

Knowing there is only this one chance to show that pupils have met a certain standard encourages them to focus heavily on the topics being tested, which can limit curriculum time for non-tested subjects such as sport and art.

There is something wrong when the demands of the assessment system mean sacrificing a well-rounded education.

“[This] encourages [schools] to focus heavily on the topics being tested”

Pupil stress

Another problem is that one-size-fits-all assessments can affect pupil motivation. While there is mixed evidence about how stressful tests like SATs are for children, previous research has found that most young learners are indeed aware that their SATs results contribute to an ‘official’ judgement of them.

Pupils may feel they have ‘failed’ even if they have in fact made perfectly acceptable progress, which could alter their attitude towards learning.

Children should not have their self-esteem undermined by standardised exams that are somehow expected to suit pupils of all abilities.

Clearly, improvements to the current system could and should be made – but how? At education think tank EDSK we think that moving towards online ‘adaptive’ testing would be a sensible step.

What is an adaptive test?

Computer-based adaptive tests automatically adjust the difficulty of questions to match a pupil’s performance, with a correct answer leading to a harder question, and an incorrect answer leading to an easier question.

The research suggests that scrapping existing assessments such as SATs and moving to online adaptive tests for reading, numeracy, and spelling, punctuation and grammar would generate two significant improvements.

Firstly, low impact and shorter adaptive tests would help to reduce the current distorting effects of one-off exams.

Our report recommends that pupils would take adaptive tests approximately once every two years, providing regular updates on how they are performing throughout primary school, and relieving the pressures of one-off assessments.

Each test would last for around 30 minutes, with the results compiled, distributed and analysed electronically – meaning no additional burden on teachers.

“They would provide a more accurate reflection of every pupil’s performance”

The results would be shared with schools to update them on how children are performing and to support high-quality teaching and learning.

Parents would also be provided with a report at the end of Years 2, 4 and 6 showing their child’s most recent results, ensuring they have a strong understanding of progress.

Improving pupil motivation

Secondly, introducing adaptive tests may also help improve pupil motivation relative to the current one-size-fits-all assessments.

Because adaptive tests are personalised, they would provide a more accurate reflection of every pupil’s performance, rather than the standardised approach that we currently have.

This approach would also ensure that every pupil is motivated to succeed and does not become either disheartened by struggling with too many challenging questions, or bored by questions that are not challenging enough.

Does it work?

Other countries are already making use of the advantages that online adaptive testing offers. In Denmark all national tests for primary and junior secondary students are online and adaptive – and they have been since 2010.

Wales have recently replaced their paper-based national tests in numeracy and reading for learners in Y2-9 with online adaptive assessments, and Australia is making a similar move.

A successful transition is evidently possible, and given the ongoing move towards it elsewhere, it makes sense that we should also be considering it in England.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, looked into a report about why the SATs system should change…

BERA’s High standards, not high stakes report, published in 2021, had a clear and simple argument at its centre: to understand the performance, strengths and problems of primary education we don’t have to make every primary pupil go through the rigours of high-stakes assessment.

We don’t have to devote weeks of curriculum time to preparing for SATs. We don’t have to endure, against all our better instincts, the narrowing of children’s learning experience.

In place of universal testing there is a better way.

“We don’t have to devote weeks of curriculum time to preparing for SATs”

Weighted national sample

Learning from European experience, and rising above the dogmatism of English policy-makers, BERA proposed testing a weighted national sample of pupils in a broader range of topics.

This would provide a year-on-year understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the system.

Linked to surveys of pupil, teacher and parent experience, it would provide what BERA calls a ‘richer exploration of educational processes and outcomes than the current system allows’.

New ‘assessment instruments including but going beyond literacy and numeracy tests and their current narrow remits’ would focus on broader issues on pupils’ development.

There would be surveys, for instance, to pick up topics such as cyberbullying, mental health and the impact of Covid-19.

Whatever the focus, the aim would be to understand in depth the learning and experience of pupils – and the responses of their schools.

End of SATs?

Schools would use data from the national sample to reflect on their own experiences and compare themselves with their peers.

Sample items from a national bank of assessment instruments would enable schools to provide helpful information for parents about their child’s achievements. SATs would be phased out.

BERA seeks to spark the hope that education can become a site where professional engagement and knowledge can be rekindled.

2017 reading SATs – were they really easier?

Penny Slater, deputy lead adviser for Herts for Learning, ponders what makes a reading task more accessible, after it was generally agreed that 2017’s reading paper was easier than 2016’s…

Lets begin by comparing the challenge of the 2016 and 2017 KS2 reading papers.

The first text offering in 2017 was Gaby to the Rescue. My analysis would suggest that, in many respects, this was actually more challenging than the equivalent 2016 offering, The Lost Queen.

For a start, it was considerably longer, thus demanding more stamina from our young readers. The 2017 text also boasted the longest sentence, outdoing its 2016 counterpart by 13 words.

I would argue, too, that the grammatical complexity of the sentences was heightened in 2017, with there being a lower proportion of single clause sentences in Gaby to the Rescue, compared to The Lost Queen.

Greater variety

The challenge continues: in 2017 there was a greater variety of verb forms; a greater use of pronouns and a considerably greater number of multi-clause sentences. However, we all agree that it felt easier…

Part of this is surely because we knew what we were in for.

No doubt, the children who successfully navigated the 2017 test had been well prepared with a diet of top-notch, high-quality, challenging literature which, over time, had acclimatised them to the potential challenge of the texts they would be facing.

“We knew what we were in for”

Key differences

However, in addition to the fact that we may have been better prepared for the 2017 test, there were some key differences between the 2016 and 2017 papers to which we could also attribute this prevalent sense of relative ease.

These being, from my analysis, word familiarity, word complexity and familiarity of content.

Conclusion 1: Reading is easier if children are familiar with the context

The first texts from the last two papers present this point perfectly. The impression the children may have got on first perusal of the 2017 text was one of familiarity: here is a story, they may have thought, to which I can relate.

And, no doubt, when they began to get stuck into the reading material, that feeling grew for most children – cats getting stuck up trees, money worries, not wanting to ruin clothes, water fights.

All these notions are well served by the day-to-day experience of a large number of 11-year-olds.

In order to feel at home with the first text from 2016, it would have helped to have some familiarity with the following notions: garden parties, houses with large grounds (including lakes with islands), adventures without adult supervision (on a lake… with no life jackets!), family crests, aristocratic traditions.

Not your daily topics of conversation for the vast majority of children, you will most likely agree.

Conclusion 2: Reading is easier if the words are more commonplace

With this in mind, my analysis would suggest that a large proportion of the words from the first text in 2016 would have presented a significant challenge to most children.

For evidence to support this claim, we can turn to the Children’s Printed Word Database (created by Materson et al), which records the frequency of words used across a huge range of children’s literature.

This tells us that despite being avid readers of good quality, age-appropriate literature, children are unlikely to regularly (or even occasionally) encounter the words ‘shallows’, ‘monuments’ and ‘ancestors’.

Many more examples from The Lost Queen may have only fleetingly crossed their vocabulary radar.

Conversely, all of the concrete nouns listed in the first 100 words of the 2017 text are logged in the database.

Conclusion 3: Reading is easier if the words are grammatically less complex

Not only did the 2017 text contain a great deal fewer conceptually challenging words than the 2016 test, the words were structurally less problematic.

To expand on this point, there were comparatively more words in the 2016 text that contained two or more morphemes, meaning that children were battling multi-layered words in quick succession.

Each morpheme within a word – be it a prefix or suffix, or on many occasions, both – presented yet another linguistic hurdle. It would seem that these hurdles were too closely placed, or too high, for many of the 2016 cohort.

Each morpheme within a word presented yet another linguistic hurdle”

So, to summarise, the 2017 texts were challenging, no doubt about it.

However, they may have felt considerably less challenging because:

1. teachers had successfully prepared children for the heightened challenge based on their knowledge and understanding of the 2016 test
2. the 2017 texts were easier in several aspects, and most crucially, those aspects that matter most for allowing young readers to feel confident when tackling a reading task.

Responding to the tests in the classroom

Now that we have an inkling of where the challenge (or lack of it) lies, we can use this information constructively back in the classroom to develop our teaching.

Specifically, we need to keep up the good work in presenting children with great texts that also offer a good level of grammatical and syntactic challenge.

But, in addition, we need to seek out great texts that present children with the kind of challenge that we know makes reading trickier. I am referring to texts that…

• Place children in a different time and place – a million miles away from their own lives
• Present them with words outside of their current vocabulary range
• Use multi-syllabic and morphemically complex words for purpose and effect

Then we need to find ways to encourage our weakest readers to relish the challenge that these texts provide. Easier said than done, no doubt – but a worthy challenge, nonetheless.

2017 boycott

With a national boycott of primary school testing on the cards in 2017, Debra Kidd explored what schools should do if parents and pupils joined in…

Firstly, should a parent choose to boycott SATs, it’s really important that the school is not seen to actively encourage it.

In essence, no teacher or head should suggest to parents that they boycott.

But, if a parent, or groups of parents, choose to do so, the school will not be held accountable by Ofsted in terms of their grading.

Skewed data

Ofsted has confirmed that they will not be judged unfavourably if their data is skewed by the absence of children due to a parental boycott. However, the DfE data analysis is less forgiving.

Perhaps intentionally, the entry data does not have a code for boycotting, only for absence. And absences show up on school data. If you are a school close to floor target, this could really affect your data.

If not, you can probably take the hit and explain the context to the inspectors when they come in. What choices do you have if a parent asks to remove their child from the test?

One common response is to say that the child would have to miss two weeks of school in unauthorised absences and the parents would have to pay a fine.

This is enough to put many off, but it is wrong, and with information becoming readily available to parents, it would be a very foolish head indeed who lied about this.

Two-week window

Many have wrongly assumed that they can administer the test within the two-week window allowed for children who have been ill. This is a misconception.

You can only administer the test in these circumstances if you are certain that in the period of absence, the child has had no contact with other students and has not accessed the internet.

If they have, they cannot be entered. This means that parents do not have to keep their children off for the whole two-week period, but simply for the main test days.

For headteachers then, it makes sense to simply ask that the child is kept off with unauthorised absence for the days of the test.

“It makes sense to simply ask that the child is kept off with unauthorised absence”

One things that is clear, is that these decisions can be hard on children.

The relief of not sitting a test is often offset by worry that they are somehow letting their teachers or classmates down.

It’s vital that teachers and heads don’t pass their worry about data down onto a child whose parents, hopefully in consultation with the child, have decided to boycott.

SATs reading paper 2016

Shareen Mayers, lead primary English adviser for Sutton Improvement and Support Services, lays out the changes to the KS2 reading test in 2016…

The new KS2 reading test that took place for the first time in May 2016 focused on the English Programmes of Study that schools have been following since 2014.

There was no level 6 extension paper and instead the more challenging questions were towards the end of the test.

For many teachers, the sample 2016 reading papers were largely familiar. They had three texts – not linked by theme – which pupils had to read through before answering the questions, all in 60 minutes.

However, there were subtle differences between the old and the new tests.

1. Assessment Focuses went

Over the years, Assessment Focuses (AFs) were the bread and butter of reading or guided reading in many primary schools. However, they were replaced with a simplified focus on eight content domains (2a-h) that are primarily taken from the English Programmes of Study.

These content domains contained areas such as: ‘2b – retrieving and recording information’ and ‘2d – making inferences from the text’.

Both of these areas – which are similar to the old AF2 and AF3 – carried the most weighting on the tests.

2. There were new areas of assessment

Some of the new domains were familiar to teachers, but others were not a separate focus under the previous AFs. They included areas such as ‘giving/explaining vocabulary in context’ (2a); ‘making predictions’ (2e); and ‘making comparisons within the text’ (2h).

The latter required pupils to identify the difference between events, so it was important to encourage pupils to use key words such as ‘but’ or ‘however.

There was also an increased focus on understanding fictional texts.

3. Questions focused on the text

Previous AFs concentrated on ‘explaining and commenting on the writer’s use of language (AF5)’ and ‘identifying and commenting on the writer’s purposes and viewpoints (AF6)’.

In 2016, questions focused on the text, eg ‘Explain how the descriptions … support the idea that they were inoffensive brutes…’ (2016 sample reading paper).

“In 2016, questions focused on the text”

4. Not everything was tested

The 2016 tests placed less emphasis on text structure (eg identify sub-headings, glossary, etc.).

5. New vocabulary was important

In 2016 there was a greater focus on understanding vocabulary in context.

6. A variety of question types were still used

The following question types were included, some of which were illustrated in the sample 2016 reading paper:

• Multiple choice (eg 2c What is the main message in the story? Tick one, Q24)
• Ordering
• Matching (eg 2b Match the events to the year in which they happened, Q10)
• Labelling
• Find and copy questions (eg 2a Find and copy two more words from the poem that show that the frog was frightened, Q23)

7. Challenge was not just about level 6

The more challenging questions at the end of the paper required extended answers. Questions asked children to explain vocabulary that was unfamiliar to them, using the context to aid understanding.

“Questions asked children to explain vocabulary that was unfamiliar to them”

‘Find and copy’ questions required pupils to discover answers from within the whole page, rather than being given a specific section to explore.

The test was focused on an in-depth understanding of the more challenging KS2 curriculum; not the KS3 curriculum, like the previous level 6 test.

8. Many questions were familiar

Having a new KS2 test without any clear levels was a daunting prospect, but much of the test was recognisable from previous years.

2016 SATS leaks

Nick Gibb confirmed that 2016’s KS1 SPaG test, due to be taken by around 500,000 pupils, was pulled following accidental publication of live test papers on the government website…

The error was first spotted at a school in south-east England, one of around 700 piloting the test, after a pupil appeared to recognise the questions.

The pupil’s teacher then checked the STA website, and found that the same test had been made available as a practice paper since 26th January this year. Another teacher at the school, Charlotte Smiles, subsequently notified the STA by telephone.

Appearing on the BBC’s Today programme on 22nd April 2016, Smiles recalled that, “I was told they would look into it and get back to me. About two or three hours later they rang me back to ask me where I’d seen this paper, because they couldn’t find it – so I directed them to the right place on their website, and was met with ‘Oh, yes, that is the live test paper for 2016′.”

Inquiry

Nick Gibb then announced in a public statement that as well as ordering the Standards and Testing Agency to undertake a full investigation of the leak, he had also commissioned a full ‘Root and branch inquiry into the operations of the STA.’

The statement went on to explain that, “Schools will still need to submit a teacher assessment judgement based on pupils’ work in the classroom as has always been the case. However there will be no requirement this year for them to administer the KS1 grammar, punctuation and spelling test, or use the result as part of that assessment.

“This is a clearly regrettable incident and I am sorry for any concern it has caused teachers, parents or pupils.”

“The government was warned about this and didn’t listen”

When asked whether the error was reflective of wider problems within the exam system, ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said, “The government has introduced a whole raft of new tests at primary, GCSE, AS and A-Level. Tests are highly technical constructs – you have to get them right. You have to pilot them, and you have to know that they’re valid and reliable.

“All of those things are difficult and take time. The government was warned about this and didn’t listen.”

KS2 leak

That same year, the DfE also blamed a ‘rogue marker’ for making Year 6 spelling, punctuation and grammar test answers available via the password-protected Pearson website…

The answers appeared for around four hours on a password-protected website for registered test markers, or Assessment Associates, run by the marking services provider, Pearson. There were also indications that the leak in this instance wasn’t accidental.

According to a DfE source quoted by the BBC, “While the test doesn’t appear to have leaked into the public domain and can go ahead, a rogue marker did attempt to leak the test’s contents.”

The BBC further quoted the source as blaming an “Active campaign by those people opposed to our reforms to undermine these tests.”

‘Mistakenly’ uploaded

Schools Minister Nick Gibb issued a statement on the matter before Parliament, in which he confirmed that the test was ‘mistakenly’ uploaded to the Pearson website and taken down soon after the DfE was made aware of the error by the media.

Noting that it’s standard practice for ‘key individuals’ to be granted access to assessment materials prior to the day of testing, Gibb proceeded to confirm earlier reports of a deliberate leak: “Clearly, in this system, it is essential that people in positions of trust can be relied on to act appropriately. Unfortunately, in this case, it appears that one person did not, and leaked the KS2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test to a journalist.”

The Minister went to state that Pearson UK president, Rod Bristow, had since been tasked with investigating how the material came to be uploaded to the secure site a day early, and examining the company’s records in order to identify the individual responsible for the leak.

Gibb added, “The journalist in question took the decision not to publish the test papers and I am grateful to him for that. Although this is a serious breach – and I am determined to get to the bottom of how this error occurred – it is clear that the actions of almost every marker involved have been correct and proper, and that the integrity of the tests has not been compromised.”

The post SATs 2023 – The ultimate teacher guide to preparing pupils for Key Stages 1 & 2 assessment appeared first on Teachwire.

RSPB Birdwatch 2023 dates

Get outside and counting at school any time between 6th January and 20th February 2023. The last day for sending in your results is the 20th February 2023.

RSPB bird spotting sheets

Sign up at the RSPB website to receive a resource pack or download free school resources right here.

This free RSPB bird spotting sheets download contains:

• Under-fives bird counting sheet
• KS1 bird counting sheet
• KS2 bird counting sheet
• KS3 bird counting sheet

Introductory PowerPoint

Introduce the idea of the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch with this PowerPoint for KS1-KS2.

PowerPoint stories for EYFS-KS1

Teach EYFS-KS1 pupils what garden birds like to eat and how to identify them with these two PowerPoint stories from the RSPB.

EYFS activities pack

This free EYFS Understanding the World activities pack from Plazoom focuses on the nursery rhyme ‘Two Little Dickie Birds’.

Use the included puppet templates to act out the rhyme, then begin to change the rhyme by swapping in the names of common British birds.

Big Schools’ Birdwatch activities

Download five Big Schools’ Birdwatch activity sheets to help EYFS-KS2 pupils label the parts of a bird and learn how to make edible pictures, bird food and bird feeders.

Use paper templates to make 14 ‘snappers’, ranging from blackbirds and blue tits to redwings and robins.

Big Schools’ Birdwatch classroom games

Use these Birdwatch Top Trumps style cards to compare wingspan, weight and other features of common UK birds.

Alternatively, play a matching pairs game with these instructions and picture cards.

KS1 British birds resource pack

The resources in this free KS1 Big Schools’ Birdwatch resource pack from Plazoom have been designed to extend pupils’ learning about the birds that visit your school.

The activities cover science and writing and inside the pack you’ll receive bird identification worksheets, posters, bird match cards, a poem model text and more.

Big Schools’ Birdwatch Early Years lesson plan

This Early Years resource download contains a lesson plan, a Lucky Duck story book and instructions for making a paper plate bird and feeder, alongside teacher notes to help you deliver the lesson.

Bird feeder project

Are decorated bird feeders more or less attractive to birds, or does it not make a difference? Use discarded everyday materials and this lesson plan idea to find out.

Welsh resources

Download supporting resources for EYFS-KS3 in Welsh. You can also download counting sheets and an introductory PowerPoint to the Birdwatch in Welsh.

The post Big Schools’ Birdwatch 2023 – Resources for schools appeared first on Teachwire.

That’s where our annual Teach Awards come in.

Jump to a section

• Teach Primary Awards 2022 winners
• Teach Secondary Awards 2022 winners

Each year, we issue an open invitation for companies and organisations to submit their education resources for analysis by a team of expert judges, to identify those most worthy of schools’ time and attention.

The awards this year spanned 18 categories across primary and secondary, with entries judged according to the following criteria:

• Does the resource meet a genuine need?
• What impact is it likely to have?
• How easy is the resource to implement and use?
• Can the resource be adapted for use in different settings?
• Does it represent good value for money?

You can find the full list of this year’s winners below, and see the full shortlist of resources here.

Don’t forget to also take a look at the Teach Early Years Awards 2022 winners.

Teach Primary Awards 2022 winners

We’re delighted to announce the winners for the Teach Primary Awards 2022 – scroll down to take a look at all the categories.

App 

Winner: Evidence Me (2 Simple) 

Highly commended 

Out of the Ark Music (Sparkyard)

now>press>play (now>press>play) 

CPD 

Winner: The Power of Pictures training programme (CLPE) 

Highly commended  

Teacher-targeted Bullying training course (INEQE Safeguarding Group 

Discovery Education Pathway (Discovery Education) 

English

Winner: The Literacy Curriculum (The Literacy Tree) 

Highly commended    

Reading Rocks book subscription (Reading Rocks) 

SPaG Monsters (Young Writers) 

Foundation

Winner: Connect to Curriculum (Literacy Counts) 

Highly commended

Kitt the Learning Companion (TTS Group) 

Video2Teach premium plus (Primary Languages Network) 

Free

Winner: PetWise Award (PDSA) 

Highly commended  

Fiver Challenge (Young Enterprise)

The Link Magazine (SL Media)  

Maths 

Winner: DoodleMaths (DoodleLearning) 

Highly commended

Numberblocks Maths Manipulatives (Learning Resources)

SMASH Maths (SMASH Maths) 

Remote

Winner: Musical Futures Online (Musical Futures) 

Highly commended

CENTURY (CENTURY Tech) 

ROH Learning Platform (Royal Opera House) 

SEN 

Winner: C Pen Reader 2 (Scanning Pens) 

Highly commended  

SNAP (Rising Stars Assessment) 

Ready to Progress Interventions (Mathematics Mastery) 

STEM 

Winner: Encounter Edu Live Lessons (Encounter Edu) 

Highly commended

How Life on Earth Began (Thames & Hudson)

Saving the Planet One Science Lesson at a Time (Millgate Publishing) 

Wellbeing

Winner: Jigsaw PSHE (Jigsaw PSHE) 

Highly commended

Grassing or Grooming? (Ariel Trust Ltd) 

Satchel Pulse (Satchel) 

Teach Secondary Awards 2022 winners

Take a look at all the winning resources in this year’s Teach Secondary Awards – scroll down to view all the categories.

CPD

Winner: Let’s Talk About Empire and Conflict: CPD for Teachers (Imperial War Museums) 

Highly commended

Sustained Professional Development (The Royal Society of Chemistry) 

Secondary CPD Pack: Disciplinary literacy (The Geographical Association) 

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Hybrid learning

Winner: classroom.cloud (NetSupport) 

Highly commended

CENTURY (CENTURY Tech)

Radix TeacherView (Radix) 

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Curriculum impact

Winner: Black British History KS3 Teacher Resource Pack (Collins)

Highly commended

Level 1/Level 2 Cambridge National suite of resources (Hodder Education)

Musical Futures Online (Musical Futures)

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App

Winner: FlashAcademy (FlashAcademy) 

Highly commended

Safer Schools NI App (INEQE Safeguarding Group) 

National Online Safety App (National Online Safety) 

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Free resource

Winner: Home and Teach Learning Hub (INEQE Safeguarding Group) 

Highly commended

39 Ways to Save the Planet (The Royal Geographical Society with IBG) 

BBC Shakespeare Archive Resource (Educational Recording Agency) 

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Health and wellbeing

Winner: Contextual Safeguarding Tool (The Student Voice) 

Highly commended

Staff Wellbeing and Self-care in Schools (Teachappy Ltd) 

10 Minutes to Better Mental Health (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)

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Assessment

Winner: Star Assessments (Renaissance) 

Highly commended

SAM Learning (SAM Learning)

EDClass (EDClass Ltd) 

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SEND

Winner: Picturepath (Picturepath) 

Highly commended

GCSE Maths for Neurodivergent Learners (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)

SNAP (RS Assessment from Hodder Education) 

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If you have any queries about this year’s Teach Awards, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Teach Primary editor: Charley Rogers / Teach Primary advertising manager: Samantha Law

Teach Secondary editor: Callum Fauser / Teach Secondary advertising manager: Ria Bentham

The post Teach Primary and Teach Secondary Awards 2022 winners announced appeared first on Teachwire.