Meet the Blackpool school where pupils are told NOT to write

Learning to write is a vital part of every child's education.
Sarah Peck with reception class pupils at Mereside Primary AcademySarah Peck with reception class pupils at Mereside Primary Academy
Sarah Peck with reception class pupils at Mereside Primary Academy

But one Blackpool school decided to ditch the pen and encouraged pupils to find other ways of communicating.

Mereside Primary Academy signed up for national No Pens Day, an initiative organised to try to promote speaking and listening among youngsters who spent months away from the classroom during the first Covid-19 lock down

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The event was run by I CAN, children’s communication charity, and saw the whole curriculum at the Langdale Road school adapted to focus on promoting language skills.

Sarah Peck, the school's special educational needs and development coordinator said speech and language skills were key to education.

She added: " We believe that speech, language and communication skills underpin everything and directly affect our pupils’ life chances."

During the day both teachers and pupils had to find ways of conveying their thoughts and efforts without putting pen to paper and took part in host of different challenges aimed at encouraging them to express themselves.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sarah added: " No Pens Day helped us to focus on spoken language and listening activities and we saw pupils and teachers taking part in story-telling, puppet shows, role play and debate. "

Staff got into the spirit of the day by dressing up as an interesting word and all classes took part in a challenge to create a collage, model or role play to show their ‘favourite’ class word.

The Sendco said: " On top of developing pupils’ spoken language skills, taking part in the event has helped Mereside Primary Academy to try out exciting new approaches to teaching and to increase staff awareness and understanding of teaching these skills. "

Louisa Reeves, director of Impact at I CAN, said: "Verbal communication skills are fundamental for learning to read and write, managing emotions, developing friendships and are crucial when entering employment.

"Following long periods away from classroom due to Covid-19, encouraging the development of verbal communication is vital to support children and young people."

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.