The New Writing Framework and EAL learners
A Fresh Start for Teaching Writing Writing remains one of the most complex skills to both teach and learn. Recognising this, the Department for Education (DfE) has introduced a new Writing Framework (July 2025) designed to raise writing standards in primary schools. The framework focuses on explicit teaching, oral rehearsal, and writing with purpose across…
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Our Outstanding Teacher Training Programme
North Tyneside’s outstanding early years and primary teacher training programme is looking for the next generation of inspiring trainee teachers. An outstanding provider with strong partnerships North Tyneside SCITT was established in 2004 and is judged as an outstanding provider by Ofsted. We are proud to be the only outstanding initial teacher…
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Using poetry in teaching: A Tool for the Classroom
Poetry is a little like Marmite – you either love it or hate it! This may be based on your own experiences when you were younger, or it is not a genre you have ventured to explore. Poetry is not just about rhymes and verses; it is a powerful tool that can transform the learning…
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Rhymes with a message
Next week is World Nursery Rhyme Week – an annual event founded since 2013. The initiative highlights the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development, focusing on benefits like language, literacy, and motor skills. This year’s event takes place over five days from the 10th to the 14th November. Our fifth and final article…
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Maths with Nursery Rhymes: A Guide for Early Years
Next week is World Nursery Rhyme Week – an annual event founded since 2013. The initiative highlights the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development, focusing on benefits like language, literacy, and motor skills. This year’s event takes place over five days from the 10th to the 14th November. Our fourth article in this series…
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More Than Baby Talk: How Nursery Rhymes Can Benefit Older Students
The 10th – 14th November 2025 is world Nursery Rhyme Week and millions of children around the globe will be singing, doing the actions and exploring a range of nursery rhymes. Much research has shown that nursery rhymes are incredibly beneficial for children as they can boost vocabulary and language development; develop literacy and numeracy…
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Melody, Memory and Prosody: Tuning in to Nursery Rhymes
Next week is World Nursery Rhyme Week – an annual event founded since 2013. The initiative highlights the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development, focusing on benefits like language, literacy, and motor skills. This year’s event takes place over five days from the 10th to the 14th November. This second in our series…
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The Power of Nursery Rhymes
Next week is World Nursery Rhyme Week – an annual event founded since 2013. The initiative highlights the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development, focusing on benefits like language, literacy, and motor skills. This year’s event takes place over five days from the 10th to the 14th November. This first in our series…
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Managing Emotions in the Early Years
Helping Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Children under five often show lots of different emotions in a short time. This is normal. It happens because the part of the brain that controls emotions and impulses (called the prefrontal cortex) is still growing. Young children feel emotions strongly but don’t yet know how…
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The Importance of Music Education in Primary Schools
The importance of music education in primary schools cannot be overstated. It plays a vital role in children’s development, bringing joy while shaping cognitive, emotional, and social skills. The UK’s National Plan for Music Education (NPME) emphasizes the need for every child to access high-quality music education from an early age, highlighting its essential role…
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Supporting EAL learners with maths
Supporting EAL Learners in Mathematics: Understanding the Challenge Mathematics is often perceived as a universal language, but in reality, it is deeply rooted in linguistic understanding. For learners of English as an Additional Language (EAL), the challenge is not always the mathematical concepts themselves, but the language used to express, explain, and apply them. Many…
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Being a New PSHE Education Coordinator
What Is PSHE Education and Why Does It Matter? Being a new lead for any subject is a challenge but the role of PSHE education coordinator can often feel overwhelming initially. Firstly, what does it mean? PSHE stands for Personal, Social, Health and Economic, therefore we really should add the word ‘education’ after ‘PSHE’ for…
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