Classroom Secrets review by Katie McWatt

Date: 26.04.2022

Review subject: English

Phase: Primary

Reviewer: Katie McWatt, Subject coordinator

Review rating:

Average rating across all Classroom Secrets reviews: 4.0/5

How well does it match the curriculum?

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

Some of the powerpoints are just examples rather than teaching slides.

How well does it support your school’s inclusion/diversity/equal opportunities policy?

Reasonably: There is some representation of minorities and no real stereotyping

The content does not always take cognitive load into consideration as the slides are sometimes very busy.

How well does it support differentiation for the full range of the classes you use it with?

Brilliantly: There is a wide enough range of resources to provide a good range of options for all pupils

There are different levels of challenge for tasks

How well does it engage and motivate pupils?

Reasonably: We can’t use it too often or for too long

This is due to the nature of the powerpoints - they children find the layout of the questions easy to use.

How well supported is it by accompanying formative assessments?

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

How well does it support planning?

Reasonably: Mostly we can use it without an unreasonable amount of effort or additional resource requirement

Some of the slides need editing or reordering based on the needs of our children but generally it doesn't require much effort.

How well does it support home use / independent learning?

Reasonably: It could be used at home or independently, but pupils would need some extra support or resources

There would need to be videos to support some of the content if we were to send certain things home.

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

The subscription gives you access to a wide range of resources and is fairly in line with other resources of a similar value.

Classroom Secrets community

Share thoughts and resources here

See what other resources Schoolzone members are talking about in our primary resource reviews community pages