Primary 5 & 6 pupils at Bankier PS collaborated to create all of the copy needed for their latest school magazine – Bankier Banter. They used a wide range of listening, talking, reading and writing skills within this publishing theme to create an impressive publication which they are very proud of. The magazine was officially launched with a photo-call just before 3 pm on the last day of term.

This engaging and motivating work shows how teachers in Bankier are trialling a thematic approach to their teaching of literacy. They found that the thematic approaches to numeracy which they used last school year really helped pupils to progress their numeracy skills. They therefore wanted to see if similar improvements would happen when they took a themed approach to pupils’ literacy work. Primary 5 pupils were interviewed to gather their thoughts on how well this had worked for them. They shared the wide range of purposes for writing which they had used: book reviews, jokes and riddles, recipes, information articles about travel, history, celebrities, the latest games and video and lots of news and updates about school clubs and events. They enjoyed writing for a genuine school and community audience and said “if you want to be a person who writes newspapers, you’ve got to practice!” Aaron in primary 5 also worked in his own time to create an online version of the publication.

Pupils felt that this real-life literacy task improved their reading, writing and digital skills, as well as increasing their vocabulary. They had to work with others effectively to meet the publication deadline, finalise the layout and edit everything together. Pupils feel good about this work and really valued having their writing published – “You can be a bit famous” “You get credit, I find it amazing – I’ve made my mark”. They are justifiably proud of this collaborative literacy work and endorse their work with by saying that their articles and contributions are “all made with care”.

You might also- want to read here about the thematic literacy work done by primary 7 pupils at Bankier PS