New Gifted and Talented masterclass

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new workshop aimed at inspiring GIFTED and TALENTED children to independent and challenging collaborative work.

The 6 part workshop called 'Through the Magic Mirror' is built around the fantastic book of the same name by Anthony Browne. With it's deceptively simple story and the surreal illustrations, this is the ideal starting point to get talented children thinking.

Created specifically for Gifted and Talented groups, this masterclass is designed to encourage:

Imaginative discussion.
Collaboration and independent project work.
Creative writing and the skills needed for high quality art.
Freedom to think differently.

In this workshop, children will:

Write, edit and present a piece of structured writing.
Create pieces of high quality art work.
Explore creative processes of authors, artists and illustrators.
Develop confidence, interpersonal skills and enjoy themselves.

For more information or to book this masterclass, please contact us at articulateeducation@gmail.com

Progression in primary drama - going beyond the National Curriculum

Drama is an integral component of primary English teaching. It is the engine that drives creative responses to stories, helping children explore characters, settings and predicaments. Yet the primary National Curriculum for England (DfE, 2013) makes scant reference to drama. Some generic guidance indicates the importance of speaking, listening and performing although these points are both too obvious and too generalised to be useful to teachers and subject coordinators hoping to embed drama across the whole school. When writing our forthcoming book, Teaching Shakespeare in Primary Schools: All the World's a Stage (Routledge, David Fulton, 2021), both Maureen and I felt that whole-school drama guidance for primary teachers - so integral to teaching Shakespeare's plays - was notably lacking from online resources currently available (apologies if you have produced such a document but we could not find it!). We decided to compile our own. In fact, you may have found this blog post...

Filthy wretch or poor thing? Rethinking the Island, KS2, Week 1

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Computer games and 'deep play'

“Computer games are not a waste of time. They help me think strategically.” That is the best excuse I could come up with when my wife asked me whether I had spent the day wisely playing the strategy game Rome: Total War all afternoon, rather than tackling the pile of assignments I had to mark. In a way, this is true. I don’t run a business or manage other employees. I work alone, usually teaching online, managing my own workload and switching between a variety of self-generated creative projects. So, growing a city, managing an army, designing a profitable dinosaur amusement park: these activities demand a different kind of mental engagement than my usual work. And, yes, gaming is also fun and, as a career in professional football management is unlikely at this stage in my life, it offers a simulated experience for things I am probably not cut out for (although, at 39, I still feel I have a season or two in me as a non-league reserve goalkeeper). Classic city bulding game, The S...

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