Most children have learnt how to write satisfactorily through home support and/or high-quality classroom teaching by KS2, but 29% of Year 6 pupils did not reach the expected standard for writing in 2022/23 (gov.uk). So, how can we support those children in KS2 who still struggle with writing? This blog post provides an overview of three intervention schemes which have been used in the UK to boost the overall writing attainment of lower-achieving pupils in KS2, and have been quantitatively evaluated. The three intervention schemes are Write Away Together, Improving Writing Quality, and Paired ..read more

In our previous blog post on anxiety, we clarified that it is a normal emotion that we all have to deal with from time to time. However, we recognised that anxiety can become a problem when it is severe and leads to significant distress for children or has become disruptive to their daily functioning for longer than a few weeks. So, why is it so important that schools are clued up on recognising anxiety and supporting children and young people who are struggling with it? Firstly, anxiety disorders are amongst the most common causes of childhood psychiatric conditions (Public Health England, 20 ..read more

Anxiety is a normal emotion that we all have to deal with from time to time. It is important: it keeps us safe from danger and prevents us from engaging in risky behaviours. We can deal with anxiety by responding and dealing with the threat in question. Small amounts of well-managed anxiety can be helpful and actually improve our performance in some instances (such as sports and tests). Anxiety is therefore not a ‘bad’ emotion. However, anxiety can become a problem when it is severe and leads to significant distress for children and has become disruptive to their daily functioning for longer t ..read more

The role of ‘Educational Psychologist’ is an elusive one! As a trainee, when people ask what I do, I sometimes have to pause for a second before answering. The truth is, the job is so varied that it is hard to give a straight answer! I thought I’d give a little snapshot into life so far as a Trainee Educational Psychologist (TEP) to offer some insight for those who are interested in applying to the doctorate, or are just curious about what it is we actually do! For context, I am a Year 1 Trainee. *Note – all university courses differ in terms of timetables, placements etc. University cour ..read more

Most children learn to write satisfactorily through home support and/or high-quality classroom teaching, but how can we help those children who do not? This blog post provides an overview of two intervention schemes which have been used in the UK to boost the overall writing attainment of lower-achieving pupils in KS1, and have been quantitatively evaluated. The two intervention schemes are Write Away Together and Reading Recovery. This blog post uses information from the What Works for Literacy website which reviews intervention schemes for children and young people who struggle with readi ..read more

We recently posted about challenging behaviour on the blog, recognising the impact that it has on children and staff. We defined challenging behaviour as: culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit use of, or result in the person being denied access to, ordinary community facilities. The ‘good’ news regarding challenging behaviour is that there is ALWAYS a reason for it. At it’s core, challenging behaviour is simply a c ..read more

Children and young people presenting with ‘unwanted’ or ‘challenging’ behaviour in school is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching and education. A national survey of behaviour commissioned by the DfE (2023) found that 60% of school leaders and teachers said pupil misbehaviour had had a negative impact on their health and that six minutes of every half hour of lessons was lost as a result of dealing with misbehaviour. The Department for Education (2022) state that: Schools need to manage behaviour well so they can provide calm, orderly, safe and supportive environments in which childr ..read more

Children spend a huge proportion of their life in education settings: around 1170 hours a year! Schools are therefore well-placed to support children and young people with their mental health and wellbeing. This is because, for most children, school is a safe and secure base where they have developed solid relationships with adults and peers. This was also recognised in the Green Paper (Gov UK, 2017) which highlighted that schools are not only well-placed to support children with the improvement of wellbeing, but school staff also play a vital role in identifying mental health needs at an earl ..read more

As mentioned in a previous blog post, fine motor skills are the group of skills involved in the ability to manipulate smaller objects with the hands or fingers. But why are they so important? Well, first and foremost, they are essential for many aspects of self-care for children which of course promotes their independence. Young people rely on developed fine motor skills in order to complete daily self-care tasks such as feeding themselves, cleaning their teeth, and putting on their shoes. Importantly for teaching staff, poor pencil grasp can lead to difficulties with letter formation, fatigue ..read more

Fine motor skill refers to the ability to control small movements of the arms, hands and fingers. It is the important group of skills involved in the ability to manipulate smaller objects- think pinching, grasping and holding. Fine motor skills also involve vision, mainly visual perception, which is made up of seven elements including visual spatial relationships (the ability to determine the ‘odd one out’) and visual closure (the ability to determine, from incomplete forms, the one that would be the same as the completed form). Clearly, fine motor skills are going to be vital for many aspects ..read more