Case Study: Strengthening Whole-School SPaG Teaching from Year 1 to Year 6
After a School Improvement Partner identified SPaG teaching as an area for development, this Islington primary school introduced Spectacular SPaG across Years 1 to 6 to strengthen explicit teaching, support teacher subject knowledge and reduce workload.
We spoke to Rebecca, Literacy Lead and KS1 Lead, about why the school chose Spectacular SPaG, how quickly they were able to introduce it across the school and the changes teachers are seeing in pupils’ understanding and application of grammar, punctuation and spelling.
At a glance
Whole-school SPaG from Year 1 to Year 6
School: Primary school in Islington
Interviewee: Rebecca, Literacy Lead and KS1 Lead
Scheme: Spectacular SPaG
Used across: Years 1–6
Identifying a gap in whole-school SPaG teaching
The decision to introduce a new approach to SPaG followed feedback from the school’s School Improvement Partner, who identified the teaching of grammar, punctuation and spelling as a gap across the school.
“Our School Improvement Partner visit identified the teaching of SPaG as a gap across the school.”
— Rebecca, Literacy Lead and KS1 Lead
The school needed a solution that would provide clear, explicit SPaG teaching across Years 1 to 6 without creating additional planning and preparation for teachers.
Why the school chose Spectacular SPaG
For Rebecca, one of the strengths of Spectacular SPaG was how comprehensive the scheme was. Each lesson focuses on a specific SPaG objective, with ready-to-use teaching slides followed by differentiated activities linked to the learning.
“We were impressed by how comprehensive the scheme is. The SPaG resources are fantastic because the pre-planned PowerPoint teaches a very specific SPaG objective. There are then differentiated activities for each objective. We have found these really helpful for ensuring that SPaG is taught explicitly without adding to teacher workload.”
Introduced across the school in one 30-minute meeting
Introducing a whole-school scheme can sometimes mean extensive training and preparation. At this school, getting teachers started with Spectacular SPaG was much simpler.
“Very easy. We had one quick 30-minute meeting with teachers to talk through the expectations and we have been good to go ever since.”
— Rebecca
Helping pupils become more intentional with SPaG
Since introducing the scheme, Rebecca has noticed a change in the way pupils think about grammar, punctuation and spelling. Rather than seeing SPaG simply as part of writing, pupils are developing a clearer understanding of the specific knowledge and choices involved.
“Children are beginning to understand that SPaG is a separate skill from simply being able to write. They are more intentional with their SPaG choices and have a greater awareness of expectations.”
Having completed activities available to refer back to also gives pupils a useful reminder when applying their learning. In UKS2, Rebecca says children are increasingly able to reflect on previous learning and revisit resources to help them check and edit their work.
Supporting teacher subject knowledge and adaptive teaching
Teachers value the quality of the resources and the support the scheme provides for their own SPaG subject knowledge. Differentiated activities also make it easier to provide appropriate support and challenge for a wide range of learners.
A particularly useful feature for the school is that pupil worksheets are assigned a level rather than displaying a year group. This gives teachers greater flexibility when selecting appropriate work for pupils who may need to revisit earlier learning.
“We also like that each worksheet is assigned a level rather than a year group. This helps reduce stigma for some pupils, although some teachers choose to remove the level altogether.”
What pupils like about Spectacular SPaG
For pupils, Rebecca says there is a real sense of achievement when they succeed with an activity. They also enjoy having their own dedicated SPaG book, which becomes a useful record of learning that they can return to later.
“Pupils enjoy the sense of achievement they get when they succeed with an activity. They also like having a dedicated SPaG book that they can keep and refer back to.”
More than a SPaG scheme
The school also makes use of other resources included within its Mrs Mactivity membership. Teachers use our primary maths scheme and resources, with Rebecca highlighting the practical ideas and additional practice available for pupils with SEND.
Having access to resources beyond SPaG is also one of the reasons the school feels its Mrs Mactivity membership represents good value for money.
What would Rebecca say to another school?
Rebecca’s recommendation brings together the three areas the school originally wanted to address: pupils’ understanding of SPaG, teacher subject knowledge and workload.
“Definitely do it if you need to improve your pupils’ understanding of SPaG, improve teacher subject knowledge and reduce teacher workload.”
— Rebecca
Responsive support when teachers need it
Rebecca also highlighted the support available from the Mrs Mactivity team:
“Thank you for always being so quick to support with enquiries when needed. Quick answers really help us to keep the learning moving.”
About Spectacular SPaG
Spectacular SPaG is Mrs Mactivity’s complete grammar, punctuation and spelling scheme of work for Years 1 to 6. It includes carefully sequenced lessons, interactive teaching slides, differentiated activities, assessments and progress tracking, alongside an integrated spelling and handwriting strand and whole-school progression resources.
A big thank you to Rebecca for sharing her school’s experience of using Spectacular SPaG.
You can discover more experiences from schools using our schemes and resources on the Mrs Mactivity case studies page.
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