CLPE (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education)

Writing isn’t just a cognitive skill — it’s also a physical one. Building children’s core strength and fine motor control helps them handle writing tools with ease and confidence. As handwriting becomes more fluent, their ideas can flow more freely too — supporting stamina, creativity and a lasting love of writing. Find evidence‑informed support and practical guidance to help your class find the joy in writing inside our FREE What We Know Works: Writing booklet: https://lnkd.in/e3b6NURu

The Power of Reading makes an impact on all children, including beginners to English, children with English as an additional language, those with SEND needs and reluctant readers and writers. Find out how it can support your setting: https://lnkd.in/eREsMb29

Ready to build confident and effective spellers in your classroom? Join our one-day Teaching Spelling course – designed by teachers for teachers, grounded in the latest research from CLPE. Explore practical strategies to help children from Year 1 to Year 6 make real connections between reading and spelling, and learn how to use quality children’s literature to inspire curious, capable writers. ✨ Includes a full day of training, lunch, and your own copy of 'Understanding Spelling' + planning notes to take straight back to your classroom. Let’s make spelling meaningful, connected, and joyful for every child. Book: https://lnkd.in/eA9iJemC

This week's book picks for Lower key Stage 2 are two popular robot stories that have been reimagined as picture books, therefore bringing them to an even wider audience. First we have 'The Wild Robot On The Island' by Peter Brown, published by Piccadilly Press. Next we have 'The Coming Of The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Mini Grey and published by Faber & Faber. For more book recommendations: https://clpe.org.uk/blog/

Deepen your phonics knowledge and gently guide early readers and writers, no matter which scheme your school follows. This course is designed to help you nurture every child’s love of reading and writing, in the classroom and beyond. You’ll explore: - Practical strategies to help children read with fluency, deeper comprehension, and a real love of reading - How to build your own subject knowledge using the latest evidence and research - The foundations of early phonological development and how to set every child up for success - A systematic approach to phonics and word recognition, using engaging books and teaching methods that boost language, vocabulary, and motivation - How all of this fits with statutory frameworks and trusted guidance Find out more and book: https://lnkd.in/eNwXBd_s

Children’s curiosity about words, nurtured through reading and writing, lays the strongest foundation for confident spelling. Discover how a language-rich, balanced approach supports joy and understanding in writing... Our What We Know Works: Writing booklet explores how a balanced approach to phonics and spelling, within a rich reading and writing curriculum, can help children connect sound, meaning and pattern. Download the booklet: https://lnkd.in/e3b6NURu

If you have or teach children in years 1 and 2 you’ll want to see this! 'Grace and Family' by Mary Hoffman (illustrated by Caroline Binch and published by Frances Lincoln) is a sequel to 'Amazing Grace'. This book concerns Grace’s feelings of difference from conventional family groups and her emotions and dilemmas when invited to visit her father and his new family in the Gambia. Accompanied by her wise Nana, Grace gradually learns to deal with her feelings of being an outsider to her Gambian family. Their warm welcome enables Grace to accept them and to enjoy being a loved member of two families. We chose this book as it is an engaging picture book which deals sensitively with the important experiences of family, difference, separation and reunion. The illustrations in this book are detailed and vivid, allowing children to explore the emotions and relationships they describe and the worlds they bring to life. We love this book, which is why it's one of our Power of Reading texts, with its own teaching plan to help you use this in your classroom to engage children in KS1 in literacy. Find out more about this book: https://lnkd.in/eP92c5k5 ✨ Did you know you can sample our teaching plans before taking out a full Membership? Fill in this form and we'll send you a selection of plans for FREE: https://lnkd.in/ep-AeKkh ✨

You’ll want to save this! This is 'A Boy and a Bear in a Boat' by Dave Shelton (published by DAVID FICKLING BOOKS LIMITED), in which, a boy and a bear go to sea, equipped with a suitcase, a comic book, and a ukulele. The bear assures the boy that they are travelling a short distance, and it really shouldn't take very long. But then they encounter “unforeseeable anomalies”: turbulent stormy seas, a terrifying sea monster and the remains of The Very Last Sandwich. The odds are pitted against the boy and the bear and their boat. We chose this book because the book and its themes allow for opportunities for cross-curricular working. The two main characters undergo a range of emotions throughout the story. It would be useful to create an emotions grid prior to starting this sequence to allow you to discuss and chart their emotions as you work through the sequence. We love this book, which is why it's one of our Power of Reading texts, with its own teaching plan to help you use this in your classroom to engage children in KS2 in literacy. Find out more about this book: https://lnkd.in/ewsYj8Ns ✨ Did you know you can sample our teaching plans before taking out a full Membership? Fill in this form and we'll send you a selection of plans for FREE: https://lnkd.in/ep-AeKkh ✨

When children see writers, illustrators and poets bring words to life, they start to believe they can too. The 'What We Know Works: Writing' booklet explores how engaging with professional authors and creators can transform children’s understanding of writing — from first ideas to finished pieces. By slowing down the process, showing the choices writers make, and sharing authentic experiences, we help pupils see writing as something deeply human, creative and full of possibility. Discover approaches that celebrate experimentation, voice and real-world creativity in your classroom. Explore more: https://lnkd.in/e3b6NURu

This week's pick for KS1 is 'The Beautiful Layers of Me' by Sophia Payne, illustrated by Ruchi Mhasane and published by WALKER BOOKS LIMITED. This is a really sensitive and celebratory story all about traditional dress that focuses on family identity and heritage. For more book recommendations: https://clpe.org.uk/blog/