Crab Lane Primary School, a two-form entry school in Manchester, began their now>press>play journey in September 2018.
Basic skill development, including vocabulary development, oracy, reading and writing is a key priority within Crab Lane and now>press>play has inspired children of all ages through its engaging and imaginative format. The Experiences anchor themselves to key areas of the National Curriculum and provide an exciting stimulus for basic skill development.
EYFS
“The reception children have found the resource really engaging. They are always excited to participate in a now>press>play session. We have found the unique audio resource really helpful for developing children’s listening skills and we have been really impressed by their ability to follow the instructions.
We have found the early years’ stories really age appropriate, with enough simplicity for them to understand and an opportunity to learn new words. We have seen positive benefits to the children’s writing, since introducing now>press>play. We have created writing tasks linked to the audio session and the children are instantly more engaged. The children have had such a positive response to the resource and this reflects in their behaviour for learning, which is always impeccable during a now>press>play session.” — Grace Foster, Reception teacher
KS1
“Children have become immersed in the stories we have listened to. During now>press>play, they are able to listen and respond to the instructions appropriately.
Furthermore, children have produced some excellent pieces of work that have stemmed from their now>press>play Experience! Recently, we completed a PSHE Experience, that also linked really well with our science project “Healthy me”. The children produced letters to Zain to explain healthy choices he could make for a healthier lifestyle. They were extremely engaged with this and had so much excellent vocabulary and science content in their writing!
I also feel that listening to the stories has helped children to learn punctuation, enunciation, and emphasis, all of which bring out the meaning of a text. It has become apparent in all tasks we have completed following on from our now>press>play Experiences.” — Laura Davidge, Year 3 teacher
KS2
“now>press>play has been an effective resource to support learning across the curriculum in Year 6. Children have been immersed in language relevant to their topic, for example the Evolution Experience enabled children to actively use the new vocabulary within the Experience, and as a result, children developed a more secure understanding of specific scientific vocabulary. Children were able to recap on the language of the Experience in subsequent Science lessons and apply their previously learnt knowledge to their learning. This ‘real-life’ experience brought them a depth of understanding of key concepts and ideas, which otherwise they would not have had.
All children are able to access the learning Experiences, participating actively within the session. The knowledge children take away from the now>press>play session is excellent; furthermore, children have also developed directional skills, appropriate responses to instructions and listening skills, which are paramount within the Experience.” — Emily White, Year 6 teacher
