Briar Hill Primary School, Northampton

Briar Hill Primary School, Northampton, has high levels of EAL and pupil premium pupils, but consistently achieves outcomes above the national average in attainment and progress measures.

At Briar Hill Primary School, we are proud to be nationally recognised for our highly effective teaching of English as a Talk for Writing training centre. As a result of our exemplary work on Talk for Writing Across the Curriculum, Briar Hill has also been featured in the ‘Transforming Learning Across the Curriculum’ book, where the school provided a case study and video clips.

Talk for Writing principles and practices are firmly embedded across the school and have impacted positively upon standards in reading and writing across the curriculum and the development of an approach to CPD with research at its heart. Our teaching is well-structured and clearly sequenced through progressive whole-school planning.

Through our systematic implementation of Talk for Writing we have achieved a progress measure for the End of KS2 of 3.7 (2019) with 93% of pupils achieving the expected standard in writing and 30% achieving Greater Depth. In KS1 (2019), 82% of pupils achieve the expected standard in writing. (The 2019 results were moderated externally by the Local Authority). Furthermore, Briar Hill has four members of staff who are certified STA local authority moderators covering EYFS, KS1 and KS2.

Each visit to Briar Hill is carefully tailored to meet the needs of those visiting. We have a full menu of showcase day services for Talk for Writing, Talk for Reading and Talk for Writing Across the Curriculum. We can respond to the individual needs of any school or organisation on request.

School visits can include observing lessons, looking at children’s work, talking with children, teachers and school leaders and training in the school’s ‘hub’.