Many of our flagship schools have had Ofsted Inspections or Local Authority Reviews where nice things have been said about the work we have done through consultancy or insets or how the Literary Tree has been implemented to support Reading and Writing outcomes. They will happily talk to you about the impact they feel this has had on:
We are also very excited about schools that are using the Literary Tree to get back in touch to tell us how they are getting on.
Here are some quotes that we feel capture the points above from recent inspections of schools that have fully implemented the Literary Tree approach.
The school’s investment in reading has been the catalyst for raising standards in writing. Every class works from a core text on a three-weekly cycle. Each text is carefully chosen to develop pupils’ imagination, vocabulary, language structure and a love of reading. Where possible, careful links are made to the wider curriculum so that pupils apply their reading skills to writing in a range of contexts.
Planning sequences are simple to follow, full of innovative ideas and often come with resources attached. The quality of writing in school has significantly improved, and the plans support our creative yet academic culture.
The English teaching culture at our school has really progressed. The teachers have really enjoyed the sequences as they can clearly see the advantages of a thematic approach to teaching English and have seen the progress the children have made.
Literacy Tree has without question brought about a dramatic improvement in the quality of children's writing - particularly the boys - and I was so proud at our cross-school moderation meeting when our children's writing had all sorts of literary features which they were using very naturally
(Pupils) show a real interest in books and are developing a love of reading across the school. Pupils told us, ‘We are a book school.’
Pupils read a wide range of high-quality books at school and home.
The themes of the ‘creative curriculum’ link to books they are studying in English. For example, in Year 6 pupils learn about ‘love and conflict’ using Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ancient Greek myths.
The planning sequences are excellent and therefore the teachers felt incredibly well-supported expanding the sequences to meet the needs of their classes. Virtually overnight, the production of writing from the children was transformed. The children wanted to write!
Children at Dulwich Wood have developed a real love of reading and awareness of authors since we started using Literacy Tree's resources. Because each sequence begins with a hook that enthuses and engages the children, it offers creative and real-life opportunities linking to our whole school Learning Journeys. Teachers find the resources really accessible and can easily adapt them to other books and areas of the curriculum.
Thanks to Literacy Tree, we’ve now got once-reluctant writers whose first question on arriving in the morning is, “are we looking at our book today?” and cheering when the answer is yes.
The clear and detailed planning sequences are another huge advantage of Literacy Tree's curriculum. This solid foundation gives teachers the time to consider how to personalise the learning to the needs of particular classes, as well as unleashing enormously imaginative ‘hooks’ into a book.
The teaching of writing is enabling teachers to weave the teaching of spelling and grammar into the unit of learning. The impact of spelling and grammar activities can be seen in the way pupils are now using their newly acquired skills in subsequent pieces of work.
I'm a great admirer of your attitude and the work you do for teachers and schools.
We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Literacy Tree. Their personalised approach, catering to the needs of the school, allowed us to effectively gain a deeper understanding of teaching reading.
All spelling units are directly linked to the high quality text we use for English. We love them! The children then take the spellings linked to the appropriate rule home to learn for the week.
Because of the quality texts, bespoke CPD and expert consultancy, we are the most improved school for writing in our Local Authority. Our children’s love and knowledge of literature has grown exponentially, and our staff are thoroughly enjoying teaching the planning sequences. This has all been achieved in our first year of implementing and working with Literacy Tree!
@theliteracytree We are really enjoying teaching spelling through a text using your #SpellingSeeds. Today in our spelling lesson we introduced The Minions by @roald-dahl looked at the blurb, and wrote some definitions of some of the words to create a simple dictionary!
Teachers choose texts which challenge pupils of all abilities.
Curriculum innovations are having an impact on outcomes for pupils, particularly in the progress they now make in writing.
Teachers select books carefully in every class to help disadvantaged pupils improve their reading and comprehension skills. As a result, the teaching of writing is now matched more precisely to what pupils need to learn next.
The approach adopted by Literacy Tree has ignited a passion for writing across our community, transformed our English provision and raised the standards of writing in all key stages. We cannot thank you enough!
Children sometimes don't even realise they are learning new spelling rules as lessons are linked through the Literacy text that they are already familiar with. They are now excited about learning new spellings and vocabulary and are spotting reoccurring patterns in words and using these naturally in their writing.
The English curriculum is underpinned by a breadth of high-quality texts which both engage and extend pupils’ understanding. For example, Year 5 pupils develop their understanding of how male and female stereotypes are constructed through reading Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sleeper and the Spindle’.Through the study of a breadth of texts, including picture books, pupils explore their emotional responses to characters, settings and themes with perception and understanding. The reading curriculum reinforces and strengthens pupils’ empathy for the experiences of others. Empathic writing, where pupils write in the form of a character from the text, is threaded throughout their study of texts. As a result, pupils enjoy reading and are able to articulate their ideas very well. Teachers use high-quality texts to support pupils’ writing skills very well. Pupils study how grammar and word choices shape the impact of a text on a reader. Pupils use their grammatical knowledge skilfully to improve their own writing. Pupils also extend their vocabulary extremely well through reading a breadth of texts and apply thoughtful language choices to their own writing. As a consequence, pupils make rapid progress in writing in all year groups.
My class couldn’t put Beetle Boy down and the Literary Leaf for it offered great opportunities for discussion and engagement. I, along with my students, always looked forward to our reading lessons. The activities were simple yet offered opportunities for rich discussion, complex inference and, most importantly, they created a learning environment where a love of reading was at the forefront. My whole class could access the learning and enjoyed taking part in it. After finishing the book, many of them rushed home to convince their parents to buy the next book in the series. Some children even thanked me for it in their end of year thank you cards!
I feel incredibly lucky that my path has crossed with Literacy Tree. It's an absolute privilege to be working with such talented and instinctive professionals who put their enthusiasm for literacy and children's learning at the very centre of what they do. As an author, it's one of the big joys of my job. I've been lucky enough to visit a class who's completed one of their finely-tuned sequences, to speak to the teachers who are in the middle of their immersive training, and so I have seen first hand the impact of their terrific work. I've witnessed that infectious passion they have for literature and language being passed from Literacy Tree to teacher to student. There are few other programmes I have worked with that have been as inspiring.
Exposing our children to high quality, age-appropriate literature from a range of authors has allowed them to really write for purpose, be mindful of their audience and showcase the learning they have experienced in their own writing. Our children particularly enjoy the stimulating entry point experiences that allow us to introduce the text to the pupils in an exciting and gripping way.
The themes and lessons are both engaging and exciting and the plans are full of ideas we would never have thought of but which make learning practical and clear. The children read good quality texts and explore challenging concepts which has led to valuable discussions and some brilliant writing for a range of purposes.
High-quality texts are used as a springboard for learning across the curriculum and this motivates pupils to learn.
Children learn to be creative because of the wide range of interesting activities available. The activities are linked, where possible, to a book, which helps children to engage with their learning more effectively and extends their knowledge and understanding of the world.
Because the texts are so engaging children (and adults) are quickly drawn into them. This supports their vocabulary and reading skills as well as supporting their writing.
Working with your team has been without doubt one of the major highlights of the whole process of becoming an author. As you know, I used to teach full time, and in creating the resource for The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries, with such care and consideration for what I am trying to achieve, you have really made my heart sing! And I think the magic is only just beginning!
I am so thrilled that Literacy Tree is using The Journey Home. It means everything to me to see my books reaching the hands of schoolchildren and you have been an incredible help in that. Thank you also for always highlighting The Journey Home on Twitter. I see so many tweets from schools sharing the work they create using my book and I am so pleased your resources have brought it to the attention of so many.
Since using @theliteracytree Spelling Seeds, teaching spelling in context, the impact has been amazing! This week’s we have used Beowulf to analyse homophones and identify the difference between the noun and the verb. So proud!
KS: Upper KS2
Year Group: Year 6
