January 2022

St John Vianney is a larger than average Catholic primary school, with two-form entry, based in Blackpool. In March 2018 they were rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted and their outstanding teaching of English and Early Literacy means that they are now one of thirty-two national English Hubs supporting other schools. They use PiRA, PUMA, GAPS and MARK (our free online assessment and reporting tool) three times per year, to support teachers in validating their judgement and identifying learning needs of individual pupils and classes. The assessments are used from Years 1 - 6, to ensure a consistent approach throughout the school.

Catherine Casey gives her top fun tips for parents in supporting their children with spelling.

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and the first man to walk on the Moon. To help celebrate this, we’ve put together some space-themed lesson ideas and accompanying videos from our sister publisher Franklin Watts and Wayland’s space range for you to share with your pupils. Scroll down to browse and download.

Last week Education secretary Damian Hinds gave a speech at the NSPCC about teaching Online safety in schools. The speech marked the launch of new guidance teaching online safety in schools.

The KS2 2019 grammar, punctuation and spelling test was once again viewed positively by teachers and pupils. When I asked a group of year 6 pupils what they thought of the test immediately afterwards, they said, ‘…it was easy Ms Mayers.’ Of course, we do not know how they performed but at least they felt it was accessible.

Each year many of us (hopefully not just me!) wait in anticipation of the latest national test for Year 6 pupils to see how it compares to previous years. And despite the 2019 Key Stage 2 Test being the fourth set of papers aligned with the ‘new’ mathematics curriculum, we are still keen to drill down, dissect and find out exactly what our Year 6 pupils across the country are being tested on.  

This time last year, we ‘celebrated’ the return of poetry in the 2018 KS2 Reading Test. So, what are the headlines of the 2019 KS2 Reading Test? Were there any surprises? After 4 years of this suite of tests are we still surprised by the ingredients or have we identified enough patterns and trends? Do we get excited by expecting the unexpected? 

To celebrate the launch of our new books for age 7-11/Key Stage 2, Reading Planet is going on the road! Next term, our team of top children's authors will travel the UK visiting schools from Scotland to Southampton, to share their love of reading and writing. Enter our competition now and your school could win a spot on our author tour.

Save up to 25% on our summer line-up of Rising Stars curriculum and Franklin Watts and Wayland when you buy online this 10th June - 5th July.