English (primary)

Get everyone on the same page when it comes to a love of reading, and be inspired to create a school-wide book buzz with these strategies, resources and initiatives from schools and organisations.

Learn what approaches you can use alongside phonics, and who might need that extra support. Get ideas from a special school that offers a range of methods to help its pupils access the curriculum.

Some schools are moving away from 'carousel' reading sessions and implementing whole-class reading. Learn how this approach can work and how to introduce it in your school.

See examples of learning objectives for grammar at Key Stage (KS)1 and KS2 from the National Curriculum, schools and a practitioner.

Use our observation form to effectively monitor your guided reading provision.

Download and customise our planning template to help you organise your guided reading provision effectively. Learn how to structure groups and assess pupils, and see examples of activities to improve comprehension.

Want to create a knowledge-focused English curriculum that boosts cultural capital for all your pupils? Try reconsidering the texts you’re using to broaden your 'literature spine', modelling the writing process of real authors, and encouraging pupils to reflect on and edit their own work. That's Lekha Sharma's advice for making sure your English curriculum is as inclusive and effective as it can be. Get ideas for how to improve modelling and call on prior knowledge to turbo-charge literacy teaching at your school.

Share our templates with your teachers to help them set out their long and medium-term English plans. Plus, see examples of how other schools have laid theirs out.

Know the pros and cons of the carousel and whole-class approaches to reading, so you can decide which method is right for your school.

Find out about targets for reading and writing in the National Curriculum. See examples of target-setting from schools and tools to help you set your own targets.

Boost pupils' language development by finding out how to engage them in reading, vocabulary learning and verbal interaction, in line with the DfE's 2021 reading framework.

Equip staff to excel when teaching reading, with top tips from the DfE's 2021 framework. Be clear on your responsibilities and those of your literacy lead, and find out how best to timetable reading.

Find advice from the DfE's 2021 reading framework, to help you make sure your staff have only the best resources at their fingertips for teaching reading.

See how schools motivate pupils and engage parents in spelling, including how 1 school creates a buzz with a termly spelling bee. Plus, find examples of spelling schemes for the National Curriculum.

Find 4 things to bear in mind when structuring your English curriculum, as well as resources to help you along the way. See how 3 schools have set out their curriculum plans for reading and writing.

Find out how to choose a validated phonics programme, and see examples of how schools use them and set out their phonics objectives and policies.

Find out what you need to consider when conducting a work scrutiny. Use our template and questions to help you carry one out.