Two members of the States of Guernsey's Education Office joined an expert sector panel to improve how children are taught communication skills.
On 8 July 2025, the UK Department for Education published a new framework to change how teachers approach writing skills.
Guernsey's Head of Education Improvement, Clare Sealy, and Primary Education Development Officer, Joanne Siddall, played a key role in the expert panel that developed the framework.
It focuses on handwriting, encourages children to express themselves in spoken language, and there is a renewed focus on reception classrooms.
Clare Sealy says Guernsey pupils perform significantly better in Literacy and English than the UK average.
"This year 40% of our Key Stage 2 pupils are exceeding UK benchmark expectations for their age compared with just 23% of pupils nationally, highlighting the quality of education in our primary schools.
"It has been fantastic to contribute to this national framework, helping to share our best practice, and shape and guide classrooms nationally about how best to teach children vital writing skills.”
Joanne Siddall is confident the new framework will have a real impact.
“It has been great to share how our States primary schools are leading the way in using current educational research practically in the classroom to hone our children’s writing.
"The schools that have implemented a sentence knowledge curriculum have seen big improvements in writing, and we look forward to continuing to share our sector-leading work with schools locally and further afield.”
La Houguette Primary School has been using the methodology for more than a year, with their experiences informing the framework.
Claire Judd, Headteacher at La Houguette Primary School, says they've seen positive change.
“We’ve seen a real transformation in how our pupils approach writing.
"The framework’s clarity and structure have helped both teachers and our learners, and we’re already noticing improvements in fluency and confidence.”
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