I have never seen anything written about this aspect of Bar Modelling. Traditionally, teachers go on courses, train others, and then immediately start to roll out the method to their students. This approach has two problems.Firstly, the ‘why’ is rarely addressed. In his book, ‘Start with Why’, Simo

This is the final blog in the series, designed to help primary teachers start the development of their learners’ scientific enquiry skills. Although a lot of words have been written and there are lots to ideas to assimilate, I hope you have gained an insight into each of the transferable skills and

The English alphabetic code is a complicated one, there are 26 letters, 44 phonemes and there is no 1-2-1 letter-sound relationship! Maybe that’s why Synthetic Phonics has become increasingly popular in the Young Learner’s classroom as a way to introduce learners to reading and writing in English.

Welcome to our blog on the CPA approach, written by primary maths consultant, Andrew Jeffrey. At the end of this post, you will find a FREE exemplar lesson plan, which we hope you will find useful.IntroductionThe term ‘CPA’, which stands for ‘Concrete, Pictorial, and Abstract’, has come to prominen

The skills of recording and presenting data collected during scientific enquiries is the fifth skill area covered in this series of primary science blogs.What types of recording should we start developing from an early age?Most young learners starting school are already starting to communicate abou

The ability to collect data by making observations and measurements during enquiries is the fourth skill area covered in this series of primary ‘scientific enquiry’ blogs.Why are the skills of observing and measuring so important in scientific enquiries?This skill strand lies at the heart of scient

The ability to plan investigations is the third skill area covered in this series of primary ‘scientific enquiry’ blogs.What are the thinking skills involved in planning?Planning an investigation is a demanding skill. It relies on a learner’s ability to think ahead (as does the skill of predicting)

The ability to make predictions is the second skill area covered in this series of primary scientific enquiry blogs.Why should we develop a demanding skill such as prediction in our youngest learners?This skill is worth nurturing from an early age because it develops thinking skills in general. In

Developing research skills in scientific enquiriesThe first skill we will look at in this series of blogs is the cross-curricular skill of researching information. This literacy skill is an area in which learners can discover the information needed to answer a scientific question for themselves – a

An introduction to the importance of scientific enquiry in teaching and learning at primary levelScientific enquiry lies at the heart of science education and provides the unifying thread that runs though the learner’s journey through primary and secondary education. It is the spark that ignites th