Supporting Academic Performance

Challenge

Front Lawn Primary Academy wanted to improve their children’s writing via ‘Talk for Writing’, Pie Corbett’s innovative approach which immerses children in their writing through mapping stories in pictures and using actions.

They have found that now>press>play provides a perfect vehicle to get children talking about their learning, and then using this high engagement to apply pen to paper and deliver high quality writing.

“I've noticed that they'll sometimes use the language from the now>press>play either in their writing or in their conversation. And I think, “Oh I wouldn't have used that turn of phrase,” and because I've listened to it myself, I can understand where that came from.” —Sam Ashman, Year 3 teacher, Front Lawn Primary Academy

Solution

Front Lawn Primary Academy find that regular implementation of now>press>play supports children’s understanding of topic vocabulary, and boosts both their writing and speaking skills. The Follow-On Resources are a key part of this success, supporting both retention and deeper understanding.

“I’ll say, “Here's the Storyboard, tell your partner everything you did in that story the day before.” It's just retention and that idea of comprehension — actually, I was following a storyline, and I was following the actions and I was following emotions of the characters and I know that there was a big problem in the middle and that's how I solved it. And there were facts that I learnt as I went along.”

They also the Glossary which helps embed key learning words and Tier 3 Vocabulary from the Experience:

“I do put the vocab list up first if I can, to go through all of that and then I can see who struggled with that language before I do it, that's my pre-assessment.”

And crucially, they find that now>press>play makes an enormous impact on the academic performance of those who do not necessarily thrive with other types of learning, giving the example of a pupil with low-self-esteem and behavioural issues who takes the lead during now>press>play Experiences and whom other children then follow.

“They're not faced with a blank piece of paper and a pencil. They are faced with, “Oh I can use my body to do this, I can use my expression and I can act it out.” Some of my children still very much need to learn through exploring and play, and that's what it is essentially.”

Impact

• 90% of teachers believe that now>press>play helps pupils learn topic-based and Tier 3 vocabulary

• 93% of teachers say that their pupils retain subject knowledge well after now>press>play

• 89% of teachers say that now>press>play supports their pupil’s academic performance

Front Lawn Primary Academy saw how now>press>play enriches academic performance, strengthens vocabulary, and empowers children to write with confidence. Explore the transformative impact for yourself today.

This case study was kindly provided by Front Lawn Primary Academy. The statistics are from our recent teacher evaluation, which anonymously surveyed 190 educators.