Hamilton Trust

Review

Hamilton Trust is a subscription website aimed at teachers in primary schools. It has a bank of plans which can be used in the primary classroom with little or no changes needing to be made. There are weekly plans for Literacy and Numeracy and 6 units of Science work for each year group. There are also plans for different topics, especially useful if you are teaching a creative curriculum. At present there are 25 topics which can be used in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, including Animals, Fire and Oceans and Seas. Within each topic there are 4 strands, which each include at least 15 full lesson plans. There are also approximately 30 different topics to choose from in Key Stage 2, these include Meet the Greeks, Thrills & Spills and Space. In all of the plans, the majority of resources are provided. All worksheets which are included are appealing to children and can be adapted if necessary. There is also an extensive list of websites for each area of planning. Most websites are relevant and up to date but it is always best to check them before each session as some of them may have expired or have broken links.

The website also includes a homework section and spelling and phonics areas. The homework area is good but there probably isn´t enough for a class for a whole year. I have not used the phonics and spelling sections.

How the resource was used

I have used this website in two schools which I have worked at with children in Years 1,2 and 3. I have used it as a planning tool by adapting Literacy and Numeracy plans to suit my classes needs. I have used the science resources also with all of these classes. I have also used the topic planning to cover all areas of Geography, History and Art. The ability of the classes which I have taught have been generally average with some extremes of high and low ability. Both schools which I have used it in have been poor socio-economic areas.

The best thing about this resource

Hamilton Trust is a great time-saving planning tool. I find that I only need to adapt the plans a small amount to use them with my class. I have been through 3 OFSTED inspections using these plans and the lessons have always been good. I like the Literacy plans as they use engaging texts, yet still teach required skills. The one downside I would say for the Literacy plans are the Animated texts which I don´t find to be of a very high quality. The numeracy plans are easy to follow and have most resources which you need attached. The science plans are detailed and give great ideas for practical experiments. The topic plans are vast and cover many points of study in a fun and engaging way. I would definitely recommend it to teachers who don´t want to spend every evening and weekend planning from scratch.

How students responded to it

I have used this site for planning for about 7 years now and have always found that children respond well to it. It is important that you pick out the areas of the topic work which you think that they will enjoy and engage with the most as it would be impossible to cover it all. Overall I think that children respond well to the planning on this site.