Cath Thomas, Assistant Headteacher (Teaching & Learning), Greenbank High School

Based on an NPQSL project write-up

Improving literacy is widely recognised as one of the most effective ways to raise attainment across the curriculum. Research from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) consistently highlights that reading comprehension strategies can deliver significant gains in pupil progress. However, the challenge for many schools lies not in identifying effective strategies, but in implementing them in a coherent, sustainable way.

This was the focus of my school improvement project: developing a consistent, whole-school approach to reading while fostering a genuine culture of reading for pleasure.

Initial data analysis revealed a concerning gap between pupils’ reading ages and their chronological ages, particularly among disadvantaged students. This aligned with national trends and reinforced the need for targeted intervention. Drawing on implementation research from the EEF and leadership theory from Michael Fullan, I recognised that success would depend not just on what we implemented, but how we implemented it – through careful planning, staff engagement, and ongoing evaluation.

A central strategy was the introduction of a structured “Reading Journey”, which mapped the development of reading skills from Year 7 to Year 11. This ensured progression and consistency, while allowing departments to contextualise reading within their subject areas. Disciplinary literacy research supports this approach, emphasising that students must learn how reading operates differently across subjects.

To embed this approach, I adopted a distributed leadership model. Each department appointed a “literacy link”, responsible for adapting and promoting reading strategies within their subject. This strategy was informed by research on professional collaboration and Joint Practice Development, which suggests that sustained improvement is more likely when staff have ownership and work collectively.

Alongside this, targeted interventions were implemented. Teaching assistants delivered small group and one-to-one reading support using structured programmes, while whole-class reading was introduced during Personal Development Time. These strategies reflect EEF findings that targeted support and explicit teaching of reading strategies are particularly effective for lower-attaining pupils.

Equally important was the focus on reading culture. Research indicates that reading for pleasure is strongly linked to improved attainment and wider life outcomes. To support this, we created opportunities for students to engage with texts beyond the curriculum, encouraged discussion of reading in lessons, and built partnerships with libraries and the wider community.

The impact of these strategies was clear. Within two terms, the number of Year 7 pupils reading significantly below their chronological age reduced substantially. The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers also narrowed. At Key Stage 4, student confidence in interpreting exam questions improved, with 80% reporting increased confidence – an important factor in exam success.

Staff feedback also highlighted increased confidence in teaching reading, demonstrating the effectiveness of ongoing professional development and collaborative working. However, challenges remain, particularly in ensuring consistent training for all staff and further engaging parents in supporting reading at home.

This project reinforced a key principle from implementation research: sustainable change requires clarity, consistency, and collective ownership. By aligning research-informed strategies with a clear vision and strong leadership, it is possible to move beyond isolated initiatives and create meaningful, lasting impact.

Ultimately, when reading becomes embedded across the school – both as a skill and a culture – the benefits extend far beyond the classroom.

References

• Coe, R., et al. (2014). What Makes Great Teaching?
• EEF. (2019). Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools.
• Fullan, M. (2007). The New Meaning of Educational Change.
• Fullan, M., & Boyle, A. (2014). Big City School Reforms.
• Timperley, H. (2008). Teacher Professional Learning and Development.

Additional resources

For more ideas and inspiration on developing a strong reading culture in your school, explore NACE’s reading collection – featuring award-winning book lists, case studies from across our network and more.

Dr Amanda Poole, Teaching and Learning Lead at The Ogden Trust, shares her insight and expertise on teaching primary physics, with ideas for teachers to support learning, and encourage curiosity, deep thinking and inclusive challenge.

Primary physics often asks pupils to reason about ideas that they cannot directly see, such as forces, sound, light, electricity and space. Forces act at a distance, light travels invisibly and sound is produced by vibrations that are not always obvious. These ideas are conceptually challenging, particularly for young learners who rely on everyday experience to make sense of the world.

For teachers this can raise the important question: how do we help all pupils build secure understanding, while still providing meaningful challenge? How do we light the spark in primary physics, capturing curiosity and building understanding that can lead to a lifelong love of science?

This blog post shares seven practical, evidence-informed approaches that support learning and encourage curiosity, deep thinking and inclusive challenge when teaching primary physics.

1. Recognise when primary physics needs deliberate teaching

Unlike some areas of the curriculum, physics cannot be learned simply by observation. Pupils may see what happens but still explain it inaccurately. 
Clear explanations, deliberate vocabulary instruction, and opportunities for pupils to explain their thinking are important considerations in primary science. Starting from this understanding helps teachers plan learning that goes beyond merely ‘doing a practical’ and focuses on sense-making and purposeful investigations; an approach highlighted by the EEF in their Improving Primary Science recommendations.

2. Make talk central to learning primary physics

In primary physics, talk is the mechanism through which pupils refine ideas. Without it, misconceptions often remain hidden. 

Encouraging and supporting pupils to explain their thinking orally and in writing is so important; it is emphasised in the EEF guidance and developed further in the Royal Society’s review of scientific literacy and oracy in primary school education. At The Ogden Trust, talk is the foundation of our own resources for science at EYFS, and at Key Stage 1 our Find the Physics programme – available to Ogden partner schools, to support the identification and teaching of physics topics and links across the curriculum – suggests questions to elicit and explore understanding. 

Explorify resources are also specifically designed to support this kind of reasoning-rich discussion with activities such as Odd One Out, The Big Question and What’s Going On? All encourage pupils to justify ideas, compare explanations and listen to alternatives. Making time for paired or group talk can also provide natural opportunities for stretch and challenge which lie in the quality of reasoning, not speed or recall.

3. Teach vocabulary as a tool for thinking, not a list to memorise

Words such as force, voltage, reflection and vibration are central to primary physics, yet they are often used imprecisely in everyday talk. Vocabulary is a key driver of science attainment (EEF guidance) and in physics, accurate language supports accurate thinking.

Effective approaches include:

• Selecting a small number of high-value words per lesson
• Modelling their use in full sentences both orally and in writing
• Requiring pupils to use them when explaining their ideas.

This approach benefits all pupils, while offering additional challenge to those ready to use language precisely. Later this year, The Ogden Trust will be launching modelled lesson plans that help with identifying the most important words to focus on when teaching different physics concepts, and suggest questions that teachers might use to frame pupils’ use of this core vocabulary.

4. Surface misconceptions deliberately and early

Physics is rich in common misconceptions, including:

• Heavier objects fall faster
• There is no gravity in space
• Light only exists where we can see it
• Bulbs ‘use up’ electricity

If not explicitly addressed, they can persist and create obstacles for pupils’ future physics learning.

A simple but powerful approach is to present two explanations for a physics phenomenon that pupils have observed and ask them to decide which they agree with and why. Changing your mind becomes part of the physics learning experience, not a mistake.

The Best Evidence Science Teaching (BEST) resources support teachers in anticipating likely misconceptions and using diagnostic questions to probe pupils’ thinking. 

5. Use demonstrations strategically to support understanding

Demonstrations are a useful tool when teaching primary physics, but they are most useful when used purposefully, not as a default. 

In primary physics, demonstrations can:

• Focus pupils’ attention on a key idea
• Support the teaching of new vocabulary by making abstract terms concrete
• Reduce cognitive load
• Provide a shared reference point for discussion
• Challenge misconceptions that have been identified using diagnostic questions.

Examples might include showing that light travels in straight lines using a torch and water spray or demonstrating vibrations with a tuning fork. The Ogden Trust’s Purposeful Practical resources, such as Seeing Sound Vibrations, show how to use demonstrations purposefully to support the teaching of physics concepts.

Teachers should always be aware that some models and demonstrations can introduce misconceptions if oversimplified. Being explicit about what the demonstration shows and what it doesn’t show is crucial. In our professional development and resources, we place the careful selection and explanation of demonstrations at the heart of effective primary physics teaching.

6. Use practical work to support thinking, not as an end in itself

In primary physics, practical activity only improves learning when it has a clear and explicit purpose. The EEF guidance and other wider research on practical work all caution against assuming that ‘hands-on’ automatically leads to understanding.

Working scientifically is not about doing more practical tasks; it is about using practical work to teach pupils how to work scientifically by asking questions, gathering evidence and using that evidence to answer those questions; but it is also about using practical work to help pupils make sense of ideas.

Sometimes this means a guided enquiry, where pupils collect and use data to answer a specific question, such as how surface type affects movement or how voltage affects the brightness of a lamp. At other times, the purpose of practical work might be conceptual clarification, where a short, focused investigation helps pupils notice something important.

The professional judgement lies in being clear about why pupils are doing the practical activity and making that purpose explicit to pupils; is it to answer a question, develop a disciplinary skill, secure or deepen an idea, or to check understanding? In primary physics, it is clarity of intent that turns practical work into purposeful learning.

7. Connect physics to pupils’ lives and identities

Relating learning to real-world contexts, which can be related to the lives and experiences of pupils, helps them to engage with what they are learning and provides a more equitable and inclusive science education. This appliance of science, building local and personal connections, is central to the Primary Science Capital Teaching Approach.

In physics, this might include:

• Forces in playground equipment, sports or toys
• Sound in music, instruments or alarms
• Light in road safety or reflections

These contexts support inclusion, while also providing opportunities for challenge as pupils abstract and generalise their learning, linking the physics to their everyday lives.

High-quality primary physics teaching is not about a single strategy. It comes from combining precise language, structured talk, deliberate attention to misconceptions and carefully chosen practical approaches, including demonstrations where they add value.

When all these elements are planned together, physics becomes a subject where all pupils can think deeply, explain confidently and experience genuine challenge.

Physics is everywhere; it helps us to understand the world around us and can reinforce learning across the curriculum. Teachers need the tools, techniques and approaches to help them to teach primary physics with confidence, effectively tackling misconceptions, capturing curiosity and laying a firm foundation for physics learning.

What next?

The Ogden Trust can help you understand the most effective ways for deliberately teaching primary physics concepts. From September 2026, the Trust will be opening its current primary offer to all teachers in English state primary schools, and FREE Improving Primary Physics CPD days will take place across England. A growing collection of online resources for guided enquiries that model effective approaches to teaching physics in the primary classroom and support teachers in their professional development will also be available. Sign up for The Ogden Trust newsletter to keep up to date with the latest Ogden resources and opportunities in professional development for primary physics.

Plus: join NACE and The Ogden Trust on Thursday 23rd April for a free live webinar – your chance to hear directly from Dr Amanda Poole (author of this blog post).

And for more guidance and ideas to challenge your learners within each subject area, check out NACE’s subject-specific collections.

Siobhan Whittaker, Assistant Headteacher (Teaching and Learning), Greenbank High School

In the pace of a busy school day, the final minutes of a lesson can easily slip away. Yet these moments are some of the most powerful in shaping learning. A strong finish is not simply a tidy conclusion; it is a crucial opportunity to reinforce understanding, assess progress, and prepare students for what comes next. When used intentionally, these closing moments can transform the effectiveness of a lesson and significantly improve long term retention.

Cognitive science highlights the primacy–recency effect, which shows that students remember the beginning and end of a learning episode more vividly than the middle. This means that the final minutes of a lesson are prime real estate for learning. When these moments are rushed or lost to packing away, transitions, or low level disruption, we miss a vital opportunity to consolidate knowledge. Just five minutes lost at the end of each lesson equates to 25 minutes a week – the equivalent of an entire lesson every fortnight.

Memory research reinforces this point, demonstrating how easily learning fades without structured consolidation. Strong finishes help students reflect, retain, and transfer knowledge into long term memory. They also provide teachers with essential formative assessment opportunities, enabling responsive planning and targeted intervention.

Effective end of lesson routines are not simply organisational tools; they are pedagogical tools. Predictable structures reduce anxiety, support emotional regulation, and help students focus. When students know what to expect, they can transition smoothly into reflection and retrieval. Routines also reduce cognitive load by automating procedural tasks, freeing up mental space for learning. This is particularly important for students with SEND, who benefit from clarity, consistency, and reduced ambiguity.

As Tom Bennett reminds us, behaviour must be taught, not assumed. Routines explicitly teach students how to behave and engage, minimising disruption and supporting inclusion. A well designed ending signals that learning matters right up to the final second. It reinforces that the classroom is a purposeful space where expectations are upheld consistently.

Reflecting on our own practice is key.

• How do we end our lessons?
• Are routines embedded and understood by all?
• Do they support students with early passes, sensory needs, or additional vulnerabilities?
• Do they reinforce our school values and expectations?

Strong finishes are not optional extras. They are essential tools for effective teaching and learning. By embedding purposeful routines and designing meaningful closing tasks, we can maximise the impact of every lesson and support our students in becoming confident, reflective learners.

Designing purposeful endings

A strong finish is more than a wrap up. It is a strategic moment that can deepen understanding, correct misconceptions, and prepare students for future learning. Thoughtful planning of these final minutes can transform classroom practice and boost student outcomes.

There are four key components to a strong finish:

1. Progress and application of learning
   
2. Addressing misconceptions
   
3. Resetting the classroom space
   
4. Managing dismissal
   

Each plays a vital role in reinforcing learning and setting the tone for what comes next.

1. Progress and application of learning

Progress tasks allow students to reflect on what they’ve learned. These can be independent or collaborative and should extend thinking rather than simply summarise content. Examples include:

• A short retrieval question
  
• A “one thing I learned today” reflection
  
• A mini whiteboard response
  
• A quick application task or hinge question.
  

Teachers can use this time to circulate, observe, and respond to student needs. This helps identify what has been understood and what requires further attention. It also builds metacognitive awareness, helping students recognise their own progress.

2. Addressing misconceptions

Misconceptions often surface at the end of a lesson. Targeted questions or quick assessments can uncover misunderstandings. Daisy Christodoulou’s approach of asking one key question is a simple yet powerful way to check comprehension and inform future planning. This ensures that gaps are addressed promptly rather than carried into the next lesson.

3. Resetting the classroom space

The physical environment matters. Resetting the space reinforces respect for the learning environment and prepares it for the next group. It provides a clear routine that students can follow, promoting calm and order. Delegating responsibilities to students can build ownership, develop leadership skills, and reward positive behaviour.

4. Managing dismissal

Dismissal routines are crucial for safety and control. A structured exit signals the end of the lesson and ensures that students leave calmly and purposefully. It also allows the teacher to maintain control of the space and prepare for the next class. Students should not be queuing at the door or wandering corridors before the bell. A calm dismissal sets the tone for the next transition and supports whole school behaviour expectations.
Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion offers practical strategies for strong finishes, including summarising key points, previewing the next lesson, using exit tickets, and incorporating reflection. Each strategy helps students consolidate learning and stay engaged.

Aligning with Greenbank’s classroom principles

At Greenbank High School, our classroom principles emphasise engagement, inclusion, and respect. A strong finish aligns with these values by:

• Promoting student agency
  
• Supporting diverse needs
  
• Reinforcing high expectations
  
• Embedding routines that create calm, purposeful learning environments.
  

Retrieval practice, responsive feedback, and digital competencies all play a role in making the end of a lesson meaningful. Strong finishes also support our wider curriculum intent by ensuring that learning is coherent, cumulative, and connected.

Conclusion

Designing purposeful endings is a powerful way to enhance teaching and learning. By focusing on progress, addressing misconceptions, managing the classroom space, and ensuring smooth dismissal, teachers can make every minute count. Strong finishes are not just about ending well – they are about preparing students to begin again with confidence, clarity, and curiosity.

Additional resources

We shared many of the ideas discussed in this blog post in a series of staff CPD sessions – available to explore below (NACE member login required):

• Strong finishes – session 1
  
• Strong finishes – session 2
  

Research base

• Ebbinghaus (1885) – The forgetting curve demonstrates how quickly information decays without structured review, reinforcing the need for purposeful end‑of‑lesson consolidation.
• Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) – The multi‑store model of memory highlights the importance of rehearsal and retrieval in transferring learning to long‑term memory.
• Murdock (1962) – Research on the primacy–recency effect shows that students remember the beginning and end of learning episodes most clearly.
• Sweller (1988) – Cognitive Load Theory emphasises the need for predictable routines to reduce unnecessary cognitive strain and support working memory.

Formative assessment & misconceptions

• Daisy Christodoulou – Advocates for precise, well‑designed questions to identify misconceptions and strengthen understanding.
  
• Black & Wiliam (1998) – Formative assessment research shows that timely checks for understanding significantly improve learning outcomes.
  

Behaviour, routines & classroom culture

• Tom Bennett: Running the Room – Argues that routines must be explicitly taught and consistently reinforced to create calm, predictable learning environments.
• Doug Lemov: Teach Like a Champion – Provides practical strategies such as exit tickets, lesson previews, and structured dismissals to strengthen lesson endings.
• Rosenshine (2012) – Principles of Instruction highlight the importance of reviewing learning, checking for understanding, and providing guided practice.

In an education landscape filled with competing priorities, shifting policies and constant online commentary, it can sometimes feel as though value is linked to visibility. But in classrooms and schools, credibility isn’t built by volume. It’s built through consistent, evidence-informed practice that helps young people think deeply, ask better questions and develop confidence in their abilities.

At Amazelab, we work with schools to create STEAM experiences that prioritise clarity, curiosity and genuine understanding. Across that work, one lesson comes up time and time again: credibility grows when we slow down, strip away the noise and focus on what actually helps students learn.

Below are five practical ways that schools can build credibility into their STEAM, helping to create sustainability and long-term impact:

1. Prioritise clear, purposeful communication

STEAM subjects can quickly become overwhelming for learners if instructions, explanations or expectations aren’t clear. Whether you are introducing a practical activity or unpacking a complex concept, all students will benefit from structured, concise communication.

Try:

• Breaking instructions into short, sequential steps
• Using multiple modalities (diagram + demonstration + verbal explanation)
• Checking for understanding through low-stakes methods such as mini whiteboards or thumbs-up checks.

Clear communication doesn’t just support learning; it models scientific thinking. Students will absorb the message that clarity and precision matter, not performance or speed.

2. Make evidence the anchor of every activity

Young people live in a world filled with claims, opinions and information presented with confidence but not always with accuracy. STEAM education gives them the tools to navigate that world effectively. 

When we encourage learners to test their ideas, challenge their assumptions and evaluate the results, we show them that evidence matters much more than noise.

In practice, this might look like:

• Asking students to justify their answers, not just present them
• Encouraging discussion around “What surprised you?” or “What would you test next?”
• Affirming that getting things wrong is part of the process and not a performance failure.

These routines build scientific habits and, over time, students are able to grasp the idea that credibility is earned through investigation and reflection.

3. Celebrate process, not just outcomes

It is easy for STEAM to become product-focused – the finished model, the correct graph, the successful experiment – but this can lead students to prioritise speed or appearance over understanding.

Highlighting the process itself reframes STEAM as a space for thinking, exploring and iterating.

Ways to shift the focus:

• Display your students’ “workings out”, their early drafts or prototypes
• Ensure that you provide time for students to revisit and refine their ideas
• Use questions such as “What did you change?” or “What would you keep the same next time?”

This approach not only strengthens learning but also reduces the pressure to “get it right first time”, which is especially important for high prior attainers who may fear making mistakes.

4. Build credibility through consistency

Whether in a single lesson or across a whole school approach, consistency builds trust. Students feel more secure and more able to take intellectual risks when routines and expectations are stable.

Examples include:

• The regular use of retrieval practice to reinforce long-term memory
• Consistent practical expectations for safe and successful experiments
• Developing a common language around problem-solving across subjects.

When your students know what to expect, they can focus on learning instead of navigating the unknown. Over time, this steady consistency sends a powerful message: your classroom is a place where thinking matters.

5. Model the quieter version of success

In an age of filtered perfection, instant gratification and noisy online debate, the classroom can serve as a grounding alternative. Teachers modelling calm problem solving, measured responses and curiosity shows students that another route to success is one built on integrity rather than performance.

You might model this by:

• Demonstrating thinking aloud through a challenging problem
• Showcasing how scientists continually revise their approaches
• Sharing your own learning journey or questions.

This humanises STEAM and shows students that expertise grows slowly and steadily.

Conclusion: credibility compounds over time

When we strip away the noise and focus on communication, evidence, process and consistency, we create STEAM environments where students thrive. These approaches may be quieter, but they are far more sustainable. They help young people see that success isn’t about being the loudest, it’s about thinking well, working carefully and trusting the process.

In Amazelab’s work with schools, such principles underpin every workshop and activity that we design. They offer students not just STEAM knowledge, but a mindset that will support them long after they leave the classroom.

About the author

5 steps to create an inclusive and challenging curriculum 

Donna Lee, Headteacher of Nettlesworth Primary School, County Durham

Designing a curriculum that is both inclusive and challenging is essential for ensuring every learner thrives. At Nettlesworth Primary School, we’ve worked hard to create an approach that raises expectations for all while celebrating diversity and individual strengths. Here’s our five-step plan, with practical examples from our journey.

Step 1: Start with a clear vision

An inclusive and challenging curriculum begins with a shared vision. Define what ‘inclusive’ and ‘challenging’ mean in your context. For us, inclusivity means every child feels valued and supported, regardless of ability, background, or need. Challenge means providing opportunities for deep thinking and problem-solving. Our school aims to provide all children with a well-planned and balanced education taking full account of national curriculum statutory requirements. Within the bounds of this we also provide for individual children’s special needs which may require more challenging work or additional help. We ensure there is a whole-school commitment and a clear focus to providing for more able, gifted and talented pupils. We provide pupils with a wide range of experiences and opportunities individualised to their personal needs and interests. Parents are closely involved in the education of their child and are consulted about their provision. 

Example: We held an inset day looking at developing our curriculum further to meet the individual needs of our children where staff and governors contributed ideas. Pupils created posters in a whole-school workshop showing what ‘challenge’ looks like in their learning –many highlighted resilience and curiosity rather than just ‘hard work.’ This helped us shape a vision that everyone understood and owned.

Step 2: Audit and adapt your curriculum

Once your vision is clear, review your curriculum through the lens of inclusivity and challenge. Ask:

Does every subject offer opportunities for higher-order thinking?

Are resources and texts representative of diverse cultures and perspectives?

Do we provide scaffolds for those who need support without capping expectations?

Example: During our curriculum audit, we made sure there were opportunities planned for the ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas confidently to a range of audiences; the ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using historical evidence from a range of sources; and the ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past by formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry. In maths, we added reasoning challenges to every lesson – such as ‘Explain why this method works’ –to deepen understanding.

Step 3: Embed differentiation and personalisation

Adaptive teaching isn’t about giving ‘more work’ to some and ‘less work’ to others. It’s about designing tasks that allow multiple entry points and varied outcomes.

Example: In Year 4 science, when exploring electricity, pupils could choose how to present their findings: a diagram, a written explanation, or a short video. This allowed all learners to access the challenge while showcasing their strengths.

Step 4: Foster a culture of high expectations

Curriculum design alone won’t create challenge unless it’s supported by a culture that values effort, resilience, and growth.

Example: We use growth mindset and games values to celebrate pupils who take risks and learn from mistakes. In maths, learn from each other and share our learning – pupils share an error they made and explain what they learned from it. This normalises mistakes and encourages reflection. Parents are involved too: we run workshops on growth mindset so the message continues at home.

Step 5: Review, reflect, and refine

Creating an inclusive and challenging curriculum is an ongoing process. Schedule regular reviews using data, observations, and feedback.

Example: Each term, we hold curriculum review meetings where staff share successes and challenges. Recently, feedback showed pupils wanted more collaborative tasks, so we introduced ‘Think-Pair-Share’ and group problem-solving in maths. We also use NACE’s audit tools annually to benchmark progress and set new goals.

Final thoughts

An inclusive and challenging curriculum isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing better. By following these five steps – vision, audit, differentiation, culture, and review – you can create a learning environment where every child feels included and inspired to achieve their best.

About the author

Donna Lee is committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning and believes that all children deserve teachers who believe in them and have high expectations of all. She has been an Inclusion Coordinator for over 25 years; inclusion and individualised learning were the focus for an MA in Special Educational Needs and NPQH. Donna believes you work in partnership with parents to develop a school where no one fails; every child leaves having identified a talent, a skill, an intelligence through which they can become whatever they want to be. She shares this belief and expertise through network meetings and conferences throughout the North East. 

In 2013-2014, Donna led Nettlesworth Primary School as Acting Deputy Headteacher in obtaining the NACE Challenge Award for the first time. She then became Headteacher of the school in January 2018, immediately leading the team through an Ofsted inspection, where they continue to be a good school. She has also led the school through NACE re-accreditation assessments in July 2018, July 2021 and 2024 – now as a NACE Ambassador School.