Here at Literacy Tree, we are constantly striving to keep you up-to-date with current research or government-led initiatives into all things English and Literacy.
With the release of the Curriculum and Assessment Review: Interim Report, we know many schools are thinking about what this means for English and literacy teaching. To save you time, we’ve summarised the key takeaways and how Literacy Tree is ensuring our resources continue to meet evolving curriculum needs.
Key Takeaways
- The current key stage structure works well, but transitions – especially from primary to secondary – need improvement.
- Mastery of core subjects is essential for raising standards and preparing students for life and work but the current curriculum reduces teachers’ professional capacity to consolidate, tailor, adapt or extend material for their pupils.
- While primary school standards in English and maths are improving, nearly 40% of students still struggle to meet key learning milestones at KS2.
- Digital literacy, critical thinking, and media skills are increasingly important, especially in an increasingly AI-driven world.
- The curriculum must reflect diverse perspectives, ensuring all students feel represented while broadening their horizons.
- Some subjects, including the arts, have been squeezed in terms of time and student participation.
- The assessment system is generally strong and results children achieve in some assessments, such as key stage 2 statutory assessments, play an important role in holding schools to account.
- Accountability measures (e.g., key stage 2 tests) play a crucial role in tracking school and student performance.
- The phonics screening check is seen as effective.
- There are concerns around the key stage 2 writing assessments where assessments have been found to encourage students to reproduce specific textual features rather than develop true writing fluency.
- The key stage 2 grammar and spelling test may focus too much on isolated skills rather than overall writing ability.
- SEND students need more support to ensure equal progress and fair assessments.
- The curriculum should balance depth and breadth to cover content effectively without overwhelming students or teachers.
How does Literacy Tree ensure we meet the requirements of the interim report?
- Literacy Tree is constantly being refreshed to ensure the offer is up-to-date and relevant for children to give them a modern, relevant context for their curriculum.
- Literacy Tree focuses on critical reading and vocabulary building to support UKS2 children to be secondary-ready to access the high linguistic demand of the KS3/4 curriculum.
- Literacy Tree provides specific resources to support transition into KS3 and will be adding to this bank of resources across this year.
- Literacy Tree empowers teachers to adapt and tailor resources to suit the needs of their children and our CPD plus our mixed-age resources and our app gives teachers the skills to do this confidently. 87% of members feel they have improved and enhanced subject knowledge.
- Literacy Tree drives diverse perspectives, by giving teachers the resources and recommendations to focus on inclusive, high-quality literature and supporting children to see and be seen through literature or seeing into the lives of others. 96% of members agree Literacy Tree’s approach gives their class diverse opportunities for writing.
- Literacy Tree’s teacher-panels focus on representation in its text choices and ensure our resources include specific recommendations for complex content and contexts.
- Literacy Tree supports outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged young people and those with SEND by providing distinct catch-up resources and providing outcome suggestions for children working below age-related expectations on all Writing plans.
- Literacy Tree advocates for high-quality, aspirational and inclusive learning through the very nature of our embedded and engagement-led approach and the use of high-quality whole texts for all. 92% of members saw a noteable improvement in children’s engagement and curiosity.
- Literacy Tree’s distinct and unique Teach Through a Text pedagogy ensures children are not ‘taught to the test’ and write with a clear sense of purpose and audience for real reasons with a strong sense of authenticity.
- Literacy Tree is about to embark on a first-of-its kind EEF study into the impact of our audience-and-purpose, engagement-driven approach to literature-led writing in Primary Schools to measure the impact of our Writing Roots resource.
If you have any questions or concerns about the report, please reach out to the team on info@literacytree.com.
Posted in: Curriculum
