December 2018

Join us for Phonics Friday! Each week, we'll focus on a different aspect of our new Reading Planet Rocket Phonics SSP programme with a short video. This week, author Abigail Steel explains the programme's pace and progression.

It’s Phonics Friday! Each week, we'll focus on a different aspect of our new Reading Planet Rocket Phonics SSP programme with a short video. This week, author Abigail Steel explains the programmes teaching and learning Cycle.

It’s Phonics Friday! Each week, we'll focus on a different aspect of our new Reading Planet Rocket Phonics SSP programme with a short video. This week, author Abigail Steel highlights the various digital resources you can use to support phonics learning.

This summer, for the second year in a row, our primary pupils didn’t sit national tests. And so far, from discussions with the schools I support, it seems that the annual league tables are not missed! However, the SATS aren’t just used by the DfE to rank schools, the outcomes are also used by schools themselves for self-evaluation and school improvement planning, and this aspect of the missing results is more of a problem. However, help is at hand. RS Assessments’ PUMA, PiRA, GAPS and NTS Maths and Reading tests, together with the comprehensive new dashboards in MARK Plus, can help fill in the gaps. Let’s have a look at five ways MARK Plus can help us.

Join us for Phonics Friday! Each week, we'll focus on a different aspect of our new Reading Planet Rocket Phonics SSP programme with a short video. This week, author Abigail Steel explains the programme's typical teaching week. 

English consultant, Maddy Barnes, shares five simple ways (with a little help from Read in to Writing) to capture pupils’ attention and ignite a love for reading and writing.

Following on  from his blog "Things to consider when designing your primary geography curriculum, following the Ofsted Research Review" Rising Stars Geography author Anthony Barlow takes us through how to choose your case studies carefully.  

This year has posed many challenges to schools, including an extended national lockdown in the spring term followed by high absence rates. Despite this, teachers and staff have shown remarkable resilience and adaptability, and they have ensured children have made significant progress in their learning.  Read this short blog on the top five takeaways from our latest nation-wide study on pupil attainment.

Staff at St Barnabas CE First & Middle have been using data from the summer PiRA, PUMA & GAPS papers to start to plan intervention activities for the forthcoming autumn term.

The impact of the Rocket Phonics programme has been demonstrated in a recent case study from Dairsie Primary School in Fife. Here are some significant takeaways from Sarah Donald, the Head Teacher, along with a link to the complete case study.