Independent reading

As we learn more about the benefits of developing students' oracy skills, Sue Cowley shares her practical tips and teaching strategies for managing group work effectively to develop their speaking, listening and communication skills. 

With experts reporting a learning loss in reading of between 2-7 months for all students following school disruptions, closing the reading gap has never been more important. We share some of our favourite reading for pleasure resources for English teachers and students.  

Teaching poetry can be wonderful, but some students struggle to engage with the challenges of poetic language, structure and form. With a range of playful approaches to try, you'll find ideas to inspire KS3-5 students to read and analyse poetry with more confidence and enjoyment, and even start writing their own poetry too.   

Kathrine Mortimore, author of Disciplinary Literacy and Explicit Vocabulary Teaching and lead practitioner in English, shares her expert advice on how to embed explicit vocabulary teaching into a primary or secondary curriculum. 

Andrew Cowley is a former deputy headteacher and has written a number of books and resources on teacher wellbeing. He explodes a few myths about wellbeing and shares his advice for senior leaders on how to grow a wellbeing culture in your school. 

Andrew Cowley is a former deputy headteacher and has written a number of books and resources on teacher wellbeing. He shares his strategic advice for senior leaders in schools about leading with values as you develop your wellbeing strategy. 

Sarah Davies is an Assistant Headteacher, English teacher and author of Talking about Oracy. She shares her advice on developing oracy skills in the classroom. 

James Murphy and Dianne Murphy are internationally renowned experts in reading intervention. They share their suggestions for 12 effective approaches to reading intervention for primary and secondary schools as part of the recovery curriculum. 

Embedding a culture of wellbeing into schools is a vital long-term project and requires a whole-school approach but there are things we can all do to promote it. We were delighted to collaborate with Andrew Cowley – former Deputy Headteacher turned keynote speaker and author of The Wellbeing Toolkit and The Wellbeing Curriculum – to produce two Teachit Talks videos and resources about the culture of wellbeing. Wellbeing for senior leaders and Wellbeing as curriculum are full of helpful advice for senior leaders and class teachers respectively. 

Below you'll find further advice and resources to help you put wellbeing front and centre.

Ease the transition from primary to secondary, and welcome new students with a selection of icebreakers, getting to know you and relationship-building activities to help year 7s settle quickly and confidently at secondary school.   

Reading comprehension – understanding the meaning of a text – is key to developing the reading skills of all students, and particularly struggling readers at secondary school. Here's a selection of our favourite lesson ideas, comprehension worksheets and classroom resources. 

Comma splices? Misplaced apostrophes? Excessive exclamation marks? Get KS3-5 English students back on track with this selection of spelling, punctuation and grammar resources.

With so many non-fiction text types to cover and so little time, English Language teachers need engaging classroom resources that get the job done, while also building students' writing skills under timed conditions. Here's our selection of hard-working resources that you'll also enjoy teaching with.  

Starkly powerful and deeply affecting, the poetry of World War I can be challenging to teach, particularly with younger students. Here's a selection of thoughtful classroom resources to help English students engage with the work of the celebrated soldier-poets of the great war.    

Mary Myatt is an educational author and an expert on curriculum development. Here she shares her suggestions for focusing on the quality of the curriculum and making time to do this by reducing marking and data gathering.