Blog

We asked Maddy Barnes to share her views on this year’s Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling SATs. In this blog, she shares her analysis of the content of the GPS test, looks at it in comparison to previous years and considers some reactions to this year’s test, as well as covering some of the ‘unknowns.’

Following this year’s Mathematics SATS, we asked Sarah-Anne Fernandes and Trevor Dixon to share their views.
This short analysis gives their take on the 2023 maths papers and provides some tips on how teachers can get set for 2024.

Are your school's core subject interventions pitched at the correct academic level? We share how to spot the clues of an ineffective school intervention and choose the pitch that is just right with Shine.

Several schools have expressed that the 2023 KS2 reading national curriculum tests (SATs) were much harder than previous years, so we asked Shareen Wilkinson to share her views.

It’s finally happening… We've launched 48 new Reading Planet reading books for age 7-9!  This vibrant collection of fiction and non-fiction cover Stars to Earth bands (Lime to Grey) and will be part of our newly renamed Cosmos strand.

Who can be an expert in every topic for interventions in primary school? We share how to boost TA subject knowledge across the core subjects. 

On World Book Day, Reading Planet author Phil Dillon completed his first ever author visit. He talks about his experience of sharing his book 'Look at my Book' and discusses talking bananas called Dave...

Our teams at Rising Stars and RS Assessment have worked together to produce this nifty book band table for schools who use our Reading Planet reading scheme along with our reading assessments.

Use our new book band suggestions as an additional outcome alongside Reading Age and to inform book allocations to find the right fit for all your young readers. 

We need our learners to develop their ‘mental toughness'. By this we are not trying to develop superheroes who approach problems and learning as if they are invincible. Instead, our learners need to develop a healthy self-efficacy, where their self-esteem is built on learned accomplishments and can withstand failure.  

Peter Clough’s model of the 4 Cs provides an effective framework for schools and teachers to support their learners. It consists of four attributes that help learners to develop mental toughness- challenge, control, commitment and confidence.

This summer, we’re expanding our Reading Planet Rocket Phonics strand with 48 new Target Practice Readers. Here’s everything you need to know about the books...