Unlocking children’s potential – and ultimately this country’s future success – must begin in primary school. For far too long subsequent governments have been focusing most of their efforts on improving GCSE results. What many politicians have failed to realise is that in order to improve the end exam results you need to have a…
Reading forms a central part of the English curriculum in schools and the benefits that children receive by encountering a range of different texts in an academic setting are varied and many. Spelling, grammar, creative writing ability and comprehension skills are all improved when children are introduced to challenging literature at an early age. As…
April 23rd is United Nations English Language Day. This date was chosen because it is Shakespeare’s birthday (thought to be 23rd April 1564). Shakespeare’s plays and poems have had an enormous impact on the development of the English language. The origin of many words and phrases that are commonly used in our language today can…
You may have read the Sunday Times article this weekend (a front-page commentary written by Tim Shipman and Sian Griffiths), about the ‘war on innumeracy’ that could take place over the next few years. The article states that ‘at present the UK ranks 23rd for reading, and 26th for maths in international league tables for…
There has been much debate about whether or not creativity is learnt or inherited. This has been researched from many viewpoints including both sociological and medical. Recent studies (2013) at the University of Queensland, Australia, conducted by Social Psychologists, suggest that researchers have previously focused on the intelligence and motivation of specifically ‘talented’ individuals, measured…