This was a PowerPoint presentation and handout that I put together for a staff meeting in my role as subject-leader. It introduces ideas from the Mathematics Specialist Teacher programme and aims to develop mathematical reasoning. It discusses the importance of reasoning, outlines the mathematical skills required to develop reasoning and provides ideas for activities to develop reasoning. The activities can be adapted to suit any age group and any mathematical concept. Many of the activities could also be adapted across the curriculum. They are self-differentiating, with a low entry point and high ceiling and are very quick and easy to set up. The activities are a great option for lesson starters, mental maths activities or time-fillers. The notes under each slide provide an explanation of the activity and some ideas on how it could be adapted. The handout is provided in both PDF and Microsoft Word format.

Reports should obviously be very personal to each individual child, so I am in no way suggesting that you will just cut and paste comments from this resource. However, from experience, I know that your mind can go blank after a while (particularly on the 27th report!) and it can help to have a bit of inspiration. This resource includes: Tips for report writing from my experience - particularly useful for NQTs. Lots of example statements that I have taken from previous reports I have written, grouped into categories like, ‘Poor presentation’ and ‘Struggles with friendship groups’. Examples of personal statement sections (high-achiever, middle-achiever and SEND). I have also thrown in some examples or generic statements that I wrote for core subjects (maths, reading, writing and speaking & listening) differentiated from Level 4 - Level 6. The statements might not be true to your cohort but I have included them just to give an example of the kind of generic paragraphs that you might write at the beginning of the report writing process. This allows you to cut and paste the level that best suits the child in question and then edit the paragraph to make it more accurate and personal and also to give it a better flow. The statements are all taken from real reports and are perhaps most applicable to Key Stage 2 pupils. I have included the resource in PDF version and Word version. PDF is probably the best to print as it will keep the original formatting, but I have included a Word version as this enables you to copy, paste and edit more easily. The I hope that you find this resource useful and time-saving…writing reports really is the worst!!

This is a power point I made for a presentation I did to a group of Y6 Parents at the start of the year. The aim was to education the parents on the kind of questions they should be asking their children when reading with them at home and the kind of comments they should encourage their children to write in their reading journals. The model of reading on, between, behind and beyond the lines is used to link to the reading AFs and make them more accessible. The Powerpoint also includes examples of past Y6 SATs paper questions to give parents an idea of what their children will be faced with. There are activities throughout, which giving parents the opportunity to try asking, answering and marking reading comprehension questions. It also gives an example of a film clip to demonstrate to parents that they can help develop their child's reading comprehension skills when watching a film or TV programme, not just when reading. I worked through the powerpoint with my Y6 class and this was a great idea as both the Parents and children were then 'reading from the same page' (pardon the pun!). This powerpoint would work well with Parents of pupils from age 7-11. It could also be used equally well as a staff CPD session.

A set of 30 cards, each featuring the name of a percussion instrument and an image of it. I printed these on card and laminated them and I have used them in many different ways; here are some examples: Sorting activities: encourage children to become more familiar with the instruments and calling them by the correct name by inviting them to sort them according to their own or pre-defined criteria, e.g. tuned/untuned, metal/wooden… Children select a card at the start of a lesson…this is the instrument they will be using (saves arguments and also prevents against six sets of cymbals crashing all lesson!) Use as labels for instruments in your music room or instrument store - great for music subject-leaders who are struggling to keep the cupboard tidy! Separate the names from the images and invite children to match the name to the correct instrument. Give children different themes for compositions and ask them to select the instruments that they think would be most suited to that theme and explain why, e.g. drums and cymbals for a storm composition.

These can be printed and laminated to label up resource trays for your pupils. They fit standard school trays and can of course be edited to say whatever you like! Not ground breaking, but might save you a bit of time!

I created these ‘Odd One Out’ activities as part of a maths corridor display. It was designed for use by the whole school (Foundation to Y6) and the aim was the develop reasoning and raise the profile of maths in the school. This could also be used alongside my Developing Reasoning Powerpoint as an activity for staff to try during the session. As well as PDF, resource is provided in Word format for easy editing.