Implementing our schemes proved to be an excellent solution, enabling teachers at Mesne Lea to build on pupils’ prior knowledge, track progress, and provide a consistent level of challenge across all year groups. 

We explore how the schemes have addressed the challenges faced by the school, including improving subject confidence in challenging areas such as RSE & PSHE, French and Design and technology. We also highlight the success that can be achieved by effectively implementing quality teaching resources.

About Mesne Lea

Mesne Lea is a friendly and welcoming school in Salford that offers education to children from nursery through Year 6. They also have an ASD unit, providing specialised support to students. The school currently has 17 experienced teaching staff and a roll of 426 pupils.

Although the school building was built in 2016, Mesne Lea has served the community for over 70 years, and many parents and grandparents have attended the school. However, the demographic has slightly changed with the recent influx of new developments in the area. The school community is diverse, with 26% of children on pupil premium.

Mesne Lea emphasises honesty, kindness, respect, resilience, and determination when asked about their school values. The school is dedicated to helping every child achieve their full potential and encourages them to have aspirations and contribute to the community. Reading is highly valued at Mesne Lea, and they recognise that not all children have easy access to books. They are also committed to expanding children’s understanding of the world.

Subscribing to Kapow Primary

What subject(s) do you have with us?

French, Art and design, Design and technology, Music, Computing and RSE & PSHE.

How did you find out about us?

Through the Academy trust as one of the other schools was using Kapow Primary. We also had a new headteacher who was thinking about teacher workload and work/life balance so she brought in Kapow Primary to help support with teacher workload.

Why did you choose the subject(s) you are subscribed to?

We felt these subjects were more specialist in terms of knowledge and were where staff had highlighted need for CPD. Especially thinking about RSE & PSHE, specifically for Years 5 & 6, we wanted something more organised where you can end up deviating and getting yourself in trouble! Also to support progression through the school and consistency. 

How easy was Kapow Primary to implement?

Very. We had never used Kapow Primary before, and we didn’t need much training or to be tech-savvy. It is accessible and quick, and you can take the plans at face value or really build on them and add to them if you want.

What have you found most appealing about Kapow Primary?

That it is simple to follow and effective. From our perspective, we can see the children would make a lot of progress within the units. As a teacher, it’s really easy to see the progression within the units of work. We were doing segregation in PSHE, and it helped with explaining the concepts and with the difficult conversations. It’s very accessible – even if there is a cover or if a teacher is ill, the subject can just be picked up.

What problems did your teaching staff have that Kapow Primary has solved?

It has given us clarity around how children are progressing. Thinking about Year 6 and teaching Computing, the examples are clear and easy to use. Also, for French, because there is modelling for the pronunciation, you don’t have to ask people, because it is all there in the video. We’ve had loads of changes and staff moving year groups, and seeing prior learning has been really important in helping with that.

What goals did you want to achieve by using our schemes?

Our main goal was to ensure curriculum coverage because there were gaps in subject coverage where some teachers didn’t feel so confident. Design & Technology, in particular, was a subject that wasn’t being covered as much as we would have liked. Now, all classes are covering all subjects to a good level – especially Design & Technology and French.

Kapow Primary in action

What do you think is the most helpful thing about Kapow Primary?

As senior leaders, it’s been about knowing where to signpost staff for help with lessons and consistency. We also have phase meetings we can easily see what is needed for each unit and what resources they might need, and it even lists that for Design & Technology. It is also easy to see what is going on in different phases because as a subject leader, you know where they are supposed to be and what they should be teaching – and it also helps keep teaching consistent across a year group.

What impact has Kapow Primary RSE & PSHE had on teaching and learning?

Huge, particularly for RSE & PSHE. They were subjects we knew we had to cover – some of the subjects can be quite uncomfortable, especially in Y5 and Y6; however, the children found the topics were covered in an accessible way. You are also aware that you teach important life skills, such as friendship or regulating emotions, that you know children will carry with them through their lives. So it’s really important to cover the topics properly and have an open dialogue with the children.

How accessible are the units, taking into consideration the existing level of pupil knowledge and skill when you first implemented the scheme?

The scheme tends to build slowly and give contextual knowledge, so it’s been working OK. In RSE, we’ve seen a huge increase in both general knowledge and specific topics. The children knew about discrimination, for example, but the scheme really gave them the opportunity to understand what it meant properly. 

Can you describe how easy or difficult teachers found it to deliver the units, based on the teacher guidance and video provided?

Very easy to deliver.

What has been your pupils’ favourite unit/lesson?

The children really enjoyed the sex education lessons. They really liked talking about something so grown up in school with their friends and with other adults that they felt comfortable with. Especially learning about how a baby develops. They also really enjoyed learning about discrimination – especially the job interview tasks and enjoyed having their preconceptions challenged.

Can you describe your experience of assessing RSE & PSHE for your class using the Kapow Primary materials?

Assessment has been very easy to do because of the clarity of the materials and the curriculum, we can easily group pupils depending on whether they are emerging or otherwise. 

Does the scheme offer enough variety and diversity in subjects that it presents to engage your pupils and both broaden their understanding?

Yes, absolutely.

Do you regularly use our supporting materials, and if so, what have you found the most helpful?

We use the progression of skills and knowledge documents, but as this has been our first year, we haven’t deeply researched all the different documentation.

A summarised experience with Kapow Primary

Kapow is really clear and has just the right amount of content. It supports further discussion with all the attached sources of further information. We find them to be of an excellent standard. The scheme is well researched and provides supporting information, references and activities.

This case study was provided with special thanks to Catherine and Joanne Sait, Assistant Head Teachers at Mesne Lea Primary School.