August 2014

It's National Teacher Appreication Day and we want to say THANK YOU! This also got us thinking about why apples are traditionally associated with teachers and given as gifts of appreciation. Have a read to find out why!

Rising Stars Vocabulary provides everything you need to embed key strategies and deliver fun activities to improve vocabulary across the school. We've uploaded some new sample activies for you to download and use for free in your classroom! 

Up and down the country in 1000’s of schools there are improvement plans with some variation of the phrase ‘raise boys’ achievement.’  For most schools this is a yearly target because year on year the difference between boys’ and girls’ attainment either continues to grow or remains stagnant.  Very rarely does this gap close.

A good test isn’t just a summative experience – it is also packed with rich formative opportunities.

Thanks to John Dabell, trained teacher and former Ofsted inspector, for the following article.

Effective assessment in maths is all about team-work and joined-up thinking. It doesn’t stand alone or parade data like a pedagogical peacock.  Instead, it links together teaching, learning and assessment in a creative and integrated fashion, so that teaching promotes learning, learning enables assessment to take place and assessment acts as a stimulus to both teaching and learning.

You may have heard of the “word gap” it refers to the gap of 30 million words between different groups of children before the age of 3. Charlotte Raby (author of Rising Stars Vocabulary) explores the meaning of  the 'word gap' and explains how your school can tackle the problem. 

 
The gap between the attainment of disadvantaged children and all children may be narrowing but remains a concern. How can that gap be closed more rapidly and for good?