PRIMARY in Practice Conference

Colleagues from across Abbey Trust came together on 23rd October for the 2026 Primary Conference: PRIMARY in Practice: Evidence-Informed Teaching That Enables Every Child to Succeed.

The day opened with a reminder of the Trust’s vision and priorities, followed by a keynote from Big Ian Donaghy. His message that we are “not just teachers” and that “we do matter” struck a chord with staff. One colleague described the “You Matter” message as a valuable reminder of the difference education staff make in children’s lives.

The workshop programme gave colleagues the chance to explore practical ideas across a range of subjects and phases. Sessions included adaptive teaching and inclusion through the PRIMARY model, developing spirituality through the curriculum, writing for pleasure, executive function in the early years and applying the PRIMARY model in mathematics.

In the writing workshop, colleagues explored how drama, talk and memorable experiences can help pupils generate ideas, develop vocabulary and understand their audience before they write. The mathematics session looked at how retrieval, explicit teaching, mathematical vocabulary, talk tasks and guided practice can build understanding and reasoning. Across the workshops, staff considered how to keep expectations high while giving pupils the support they need to take part and succeed.

Colleagues valued the opportunity to learn from one another as well as from the sessions. As one member of staff put it: “I really like learning alongside and from colleagues from other schools.” Another valued “the opportunity to discuss key learning with colleagues”.

The feedback also showed how staff were already thinking about putting ideas into practice. Actions included building more planned talk into mathematics, teaching vocabulary explicitly, reviewing planning and making inclusion a priority. One colleague highlighted the importance of “scaffolding and unpicking of understanding” to help pupils access learning.

Thank you to everyone who planned, presented and took part in the conference. The day was a chance to reconnect with our shared purpose, learn from each other and take useful ideas back to our schools and classrooms.