All Hail Macbeth!

In this blog, Kathy Roe shares how one school brought the drama of Shakespeare's Macbeth to vivid life - through drama and writing - drawing upon HfL...

The long and the short of GDS in Year 6 writing

Beginning a series of blogs across the coming year, Martin Galway explores the requirements of the GDS standard for Year 6 writing, considers the...

Don't forget your full stops!

This blog offers a range of strategies to help address the perennial problem of missing full stops - here focusing on a year 3 classroom.

Testing times ahead: tips for preparing for success in the KS2 reading tests

Following a collective ponder from members of the Herts for Learning English team, we are pleased to offer the following set of tried and tested tips...

KS2 reading fluency project autumn summary report

Penelope Slater, Deputy Lead Adviser for Primary English, shares the findings of the autumn round of our exciting KS2 Reading Fluency Project.

KS2 writing assessment: clarifying cohesion

Penny Slater draws upon this year's Teacher Assessment Exemplification materials for writing to help unpick just what is meant by 'cohesion' in the...

Take one book: Christmas special!

Christmas is coming, and it is time to dig out the usual array of Christmassy texts to inspire a seasonal unit of reading and writing.

A field guide to great writing

Children bursting with excitement and brimming with pride: isn’t that every teacher’s dream ....

Early findings from the KS2 reading fluency project

With 150 pupils across Hertfordshire now involved in HfL’s KS2 Reading Fluency Project, Penny Slater reflects on what has been learned from the...

Celebrating freedom with national poetry day

In this short blog, Michelle Nicholson presents some ideas to do with your class on National Poetry Day, which takes the theme of ‘freedom’ this year....