• Rural Academy 397 pupils in Leicestershire
• FSM: 10.1%

Review rating:

Average rating across all Purple Mash reviews: 4.2/5

Overall it is an easy to use resource, with next to no planning required and the children are really engaged!

How well does it match the curriculum?

Reasonably: It’s good enough for the money, but needs some additional resources

Strengths - Coding is a particular strength on Purple Mash as it comes with handy video codes to model how to complete the tasks. Perfect for teachers with no knowledge if coding! Weakness - Lack of challenge, quite simplistic childish activities so much better suited for KS1

How well does it support adaptation for different groups of pupils?

Reasonably: Essentially there’s enough for most pupils but there isn’t enough extension or challenge.

More extension and challenge activities needed. Also, in the written English activities there needs to be more modelled examples of particular grammatical features to challenge pupils to use these within their writing.

How well does it engage and motivate pupils?

Well: Pupils generally enjoy using it and tend to welcome doing so

Children really like using Purple Mash as it is easy to navigate and understand. It has clearly been designed with children in mind.

How well supported is it by any included formative assessments?

Reasonably: There is some formative assessment included, but its usefulness is a bit limited

It can be an effective assessment tool of teachers set the right tasks for children to complete. This is easily done for maths and science but more difficult for other subject areas. It is not useful, in my opinion, as a tool to support or assess reading as the texts are far too simplistic and the questions don't match well enough to the kinds of questions you would get on a SATs test.

How well does it support planning?

Well: It’s fairly self-contained and can be used with minimal preparation

It's really easy to just pick up and go. The best way to use it is to know in advance what task you would like to children to do as you can set them a 2-do task so that the task is waiting for them when they log in. If you don't have time to do this or forget it is still easy to navigate!

How well does it support home use / independent learning?

Well: Pupils could be expected to use this at home or independently, with a minimum amount of support or additional resources

Parents would not need to give additional support to actually use the website or navigate around. If tasks are met appropriately to the level for the children then it is something they can complete independently.

How would you rate it for value for money compared to similar resources?

Reasonably: It represents about the same value for money as similar resources I’ve seen

Needs more challenge and extension tasks for more able pupils. Better range of reading comprehension activities with higher level texts.

Would you recommend it to a colleague in a similar school to yours? 8/11

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