man leaping agaisnt blue sky

Steps to spelling: track back to leap forward

Blog
27 Mar 2018
How to identify and address gaps in learning so that children are helped to become confident, increasingly accurate spellers.  This blog includes a free, helpful lesson outline. 
group of children reading

Early findings from the KS2 reading fluency project

Blog
11 Oct 2017
With 150 pupils across Hertfordshire now involved in HfL’s KS2 Reading Fluency Project, Penny Slater reflects on what has been learned from the project so far.
book with people over it

Do you sound good to listen to? (or ‘fluency: reading’s best-kept secret weapon’)

Blog
05 Sep 2016
Fluency is undergoing somewhat of a revival in England. It has long been the poor relation, the magnolia paint let’s say, of reading; a general stage the ‘typical’ reader will attain when s/he reaches about a quarter past seven years old.
pile of books

Flexing fluency muscles with great texts (Oh…and they are free too!)

Blog
20 Apr 2017
In this short blog, Penny Slater points to some texts that may prove useful in the last few weeks leading up to this year’s SATS.
two children looking at a book

Reflections from analysis of the 2019 KS2 reading SATs: part 1

Blog
01 Sep 2019
In this series of blogs, Penny Slater takes an in-depth look at the 2019 reading SATs paper and draws out some key points for reflection.
graph

Progress measures (KS2 and KS4) in 2022 – what do we know?

Blog
01 May 2022
Ben Fuller explores what we know (and what we don’t yet know) about KS2 and KS4 progress measures this summer.
Banana

'It ain't what you intend, it's the way it is implemented, and that's what gets results'

Blog
24 Jan 2020
Despite constantly saying that there is no silver bullet out there, I know that many wonder whether it is just that they have not found it …yet. 
boy and girl reading

Reflections from analysis of the 2019 KS2 reading SATs: part 3

Blog
08 Sep 2019
In this series of blogs, Penny Slater takes an in-depth look at the 2019 reading SATs paper and draws out some key points for reflection.
2girls and a boy reading

Reflections from analysis of the 2019 KS2 reading SATs: part 4

Blog
11 Sep 2019
In this series of blogs, Penny Slater takes an in-depth look at the 2019 reading SATs paper and draws out some key points for reflection.
pencils

The ‘CPA’ approach

Blog
28 May 2016
One of the most fundamental learning theories to be implemented within any mastery classroom is the ‘CPA’ (Concrete, Pictorial, and Abstract) approach. It was first proposed by Jerome Bruner in 1966 as a means of scaffolding learning.