Nurturing Possibility Thinking, Block by Block

Discussions around curriculum design and enactment in 2025 are dominated by knowledge acquisition. Educators rightly want to ensure that both teaching programmes and pedagogical approaches support schemata development so that children learn and remember more. This is the case in all key stages, including the early years foundation stage. The statutory framework makes explicit what…

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Wonderful wordless works of art

Some of our most engaging books for younger children are those which have very few words or no words at all. The illustrators of these wordless books are incredibly skilled in spinning a narrative through an unfolding sequence of pictures so exquisite, so imaginative, so carefully considered and sequenced that readers are immediately captivated and…

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North Tyneside Headteacher Conference

14th February 2025 9:30am to 3:30pm The Council Chamber, Quadrant East, North Shields Now only 8 places left!   We are delighted to see see sign-up from such a wide range of schools, including academies and maintained schools, secondary, middle, primary and first schools, faith schools, North Tyneside schools and schools in the wider region.…

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Melody, Memory and Prosody: Tuning in to Nursery Rhymes

AI generated image showing a range of characters from nursery rhymes dancing in front of a page of musical notes.

The traditional songs of childhood are widely recognised as one of the most powerful resources in early language development. This is true across all cultures, with parents universally singing with their babies and young children. Intriguing vocabulary, syntactical patterning, repetition and rhyme command the attention of very young listeners. In our society, perfectly crafted miniature…

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