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Literacy teaching and school events calendar 2023-2024

Added 01 Sep 2022 | Updated 23 Nov 23

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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 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. Be sure to sign up to our Resources and Training newsletter for news and updates direct to your inbox.
  • 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.

Events in the Autumn Term 2023 calendar

November 2023

Non-fiction November

Bonfire Night, Diwali and Fireworks Festivals

  • Date: 5 November 2023 Bonfire Night
  • Date: 12 November 2023 Diwali
  • 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

December 2023

Picture This! reading challenge

Christmas and the festive season


Events in the Spring Term 2024 calendar

January 2024

Reading Champions STEM Challenge: We Wonder - Journey into Space

Holocaust Memorial Day

  • Date: 27 January 2024
  • 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 - for 2024 we'll be providing an exclusive Tom Palmer story, related activities and worksheets, and a free live event - on Friday 26 January - for ages 10 to 14.

National Storytelling Week

  • Date: 27 January to 4 February 2024
  • 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.

Wicked Writers: Be the Change writing competition

  • Date: Launches 29 January 2024
  • In partnership with acclaimed stage-musical Wicked, this persuasive writing competition for pupils aged 9 to 14 focuses on positive changes they would like to make for the environment.
  • Wicked Writers: Be the Change - sign up now to take part.

February 2024

Children's Mental Health Week

  • Date: 5 to 11 February 2024
  • 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.

Chinese New Year

Date: 10 February 2024

  • Coming soon - a new Hot Topic Resource filled with literacy ideas, activities and recommended reads.
  • Explore other Hot Topic resource moments for inspiration across the year

March 2024

World Book Day

National Careers Week

International Women's Day

Talk to Your Baby: Early Years Conference

Date: 12 March 2024

National Primary Conference

  • Date: 21 March 2024
  • 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.
  • Booking is open! Read more and register for our in-person Primary Conference 2024: Better Together: Raising achievement through a collaborative approach to literacy.

Red Nose Day

  • Date: 15 March 2024
  • 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.
  • Comedy improvisation in the classroom
  • BBC Comedy Classroom


Events in the Summer Term 2024 calendar

April 2024

Earth Day

TCS London Marathon

  • Date: 21 April 2024
  • In addition to the main event around the capital city, the TCS Mini London Marathon in schools asks pupils to run, jog, walk or wheel one mile in their school. Our resource includes warm-up activities to energise minds and bodies, along with a host of reading, writing and oracy ideas linked to marathon running.
  • Hot Topic: TCS London Marathon

May 2024

Year 6 SATS

June 2024

Empathy Day

National Writing Day

Refugee Week

Pride Month

July 2024

Transition preparation

National Secondary School Conference


Events in the Autumn Term 2024 calendar

September 2024

Back to school and settling in

October 2024

Black History Month

Libraries Week

National Poetry Day

  • Date: 3 October 2024
  • 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)

World Mental Health Day

  • Date: 10 October 2024
  • Promote reading as an effective way of helping people take care of their mental health and wellbeing.
  • Take 10 to read

Halloween

  • Date: 31 October 2024
  • Embed enjoyment of reading, writing, and speaking and listening.with our fang-tastic and spooktacular activity ideas for ages 5-14
  • Hot Topic: Halloween
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