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Literacy teaching and school events calendar 2024-2025

Added 04 Apr 2024 | Updated 13 Dec 24

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Ideas and literacy teaching resources for cultural events and UK awareness days

We support schools and early years settings with literacy teaching resources to help enrich your lessons as you mark special days throughout the academic year.

Our evidence-based and curriculum-linked educational resources build on key literacy and cutural moments in the school calendar to help you support positive engagement with reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Resources support teaching and learning across a broad age range covering early years, primary and secondary (including early years, KS1, KS2, KS3, with some extending to KS4 and KS5, and in Scotland early level through first, second, and third/fourth level to senior phase).

Where relevant, we work with expert partners to ensure that we embed inclusion, celebrate diversity and address challenging topics with sensitivity.

Plan your literacy year

Use our calendar ideas below to draw up your own literacy teaching plan for the term or year ahead, and explore the teaching resources provided to help you.

More support

  • We'll continue to update this page throughout the year.
  • Get regular updates in our Resources and Training newsletter.
  • Premium whole-school membership subscribers - our printable year planner (primary and secondary versions) provides a handy month-by-month listing of moments for which we'll be developing resources or events. Display the planner in your staffroom or use it for team planning.
  • Discover our CPD courses running throughout the year and find more information about conferences, training and workshops for teachers and practitioners.

Events in the Autumn Term 2024 calendar

December 2024

World of Graphic Novels Reading Challenge

  • Date: deadline for entries 13 December 2024
  • This Autumn inspire your students with the exciting World of Graphic Novels reading challenge that supports book choice, reading for pleasure and literacy skills. For ages 7 to 14.
  • The World of Graphic Novels

Christmas and the festive season

Events in the Spring Term 2025 calendar

January 2025

Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition

  • Date: launches 13 January 2025
  • Could your students 'be the change' in their local community? This competition challenges students aged 9 to 14 to write persuasively about a positive change they would like to see. Fully supported by classroom resources, there are also fantastic prizes on offer.
  • Get involved in Wicked Writers

We Wonder: Our Blue Planet reading challenge

  • Date: launches January 2025
  • This year our annual STEM reading challenge with Turner & Townsend tasks students aged 9 to 14 with research and reading that leads to them designing a campaign poster to protect our precious water resources.
  • Take part in Our Blue Planet

Holocaust Memorial Day

  • Date: 27 January 2025
  • Developed in partnership with trusted experts, our resources and events support students to understand the terrible impact of the Holocaust, and reflect on actions we can take to secure a safer future.
  • Holocaust Memorial Day - our resources for 2024 will remain available throughout this school year, and we'll be updating them for spring 2025.

Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year

February 2025

National Storytelling Week

  • Date: 1 to 9 February 2025
  • A week-long celebration of stories – spoken or written – encouraging creativity and self-expression enabling children to tell their own stories.
  • National Storytelling Week - resources and events from early years through to KS3.

Children's Mental Health Week

  • Date: 3 to 9 February 2025
  • Shining a spotlight on the importance of children and young people's mental health, and building on research findings that link literacy engagement with wellbeing. We have resources to help inspire pupils to explore their emotions, make meaningful connections and write for their wellbeing.
  • Children's Mental Health Week
  • Supporting wellbeing through literacy teaching

Safer Internet Day

If you're working in Alternative Provision with girls aged 11 to 14, take a look at Empower, our targeted critical media literacy programme.

March 2025

World Book Day

National Careers Week

International Women's Day

Early Words Matter Conference for early years

  • Date: 19 March 2025
  • Location: London
  • The Early Words Matter conference is the new name for our long-standing Talk to your Baby event, that has been running for 20 years. Focusing on young children's development and communication, our landmark cross-sector conference amalgamates thought leadership and best practice for early years professionals.
  • Learn more and book your place at the Early Words Matter conference.

Red Nose Day

  • Date: tbc March 2025
  • Through Red Nose Day, the Comic Relief charity raises funds to support a vision of a just world, free from poverty. Our research found that more boys than girls read and wrote comedy outside class, and also that more pupils eligible for free school meals than those who do not get meals said they wrote comedy at least once a month outside the classroom.
  • Comic Relief Hot Topic ideas and activities for the classroom.

National Primary Conference

  • Date: 27 March 2025 (tbc)
  • Location: Bradford
  • Our annual primary conference aims to celebrate best practice and explore the issues most significant to primary practitioners through a combination of thought leadership and workshops.
  • Learn more and book your place at our Primary conference 2025: Raising voices, raising literacy.

Events in the Summer Term 2025 calendar

April 2025

Earth Day

May 2025

Year 6 SATS

Outdoor Classroom Day

  • Date: tbc May 2025
  • Time spent outdoors can bring a fresh perspective to learning, as well as benefitting children's health, wellbeing and development. Try our creative literacy ideas that take learning outside!
  • Get Outdoors - a Hot Topic resource

June 2025

Empathy Day

Refugee Week

  • Date: 16 to 22 June 2025
  • Our resources help you place a teaching focus on Refugee Week that can help children gain understanding of issues and vocabulary they may encounter in the news, as well as supporting the celebration of diversity and inclusion in your school.
  • Learn more about our Refugee Week resources.

National Writing Day

Pride Month

July 2025

Transition preparation

National Secondary School Conference 2025: Perspectives on Literacy

  • Date: 7 July 2025
  • Location: Birmingham
  • Our secondary conference celebrates best practice and explores the issues most significant to secondary practitioners through a combination of thought-leadership keynote presentations and interactive workshops.
  • Learn more and book your place

Events in the Autumn Term 2025 calendar

September 2025

Back to school and settling in

October 2025

National Poetry Day

  • Date: 2 October 2025
  • A whole-school/setting opportunity to encourage children to make, experience, share and enjoy poetry.
  • National Poetry Day resources (Early Years, plus Key Stages 1, 2 and 3)

Libraries Week

World Mental Health Day

  • Date: 10 October 2025
  • Promote reading as an effective way of helping people take care of their mental health and wellbeing. Join our free, online author events for schools.
  • Take 10 to read

Halloween

  • Date: 31 October 2025
  • Embed enjoyment of reading, writing, and speaking and listening.with our fang-tastic and spooktacular activity ideas for ages 5-14
  • Hot Topic: Halloween

Black History Month

  • Date: 1 to 31 October 2025
  • We work to ensure that the resources we publish throughout the year are inclusive, feature a diverse range of voices. However, if you are marking Black History Month in your own school calendar, then please explore these resources.
  • Celebrate Black history all year round

Bonfire Night, Diwali and Fireworks Festivals

  • Date: 20 October 2025 Diwali
  • Date: 5 November 2025 Bonfire Night
  • Accessible inspiration for reading, writing, speaking and listening activities with a fireworks theme suitable for marking Diwali, Bonfire Night or both!
  • Hot topic: fireworks and festivals

November 2025

Non-fiction November

Bonfire Night, Diwali and Fireworks Festivals

  • Date: 20 October 2025 Diwali
  • Date: 5 November 2025 Bonfire Night
  • Accessible inspiration for reading, writing, speaking and listening activities with a fireworks theme suitable for marking Diwali, Bonfire Night or both!
  • Hot topic: fireworks and festivals

Remembrance

Nursery Rhyme Week

  • Date: tbc November 2025
  • A celebration of favourite rhymes that support language and communication skills, build confidence, and foster inclusivity.
  • Nursery Rhymes in the Early Years
Discover upcoming classroom and training events Stay up to date with our resources and training newsletter for teachers and practitioners
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