Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.

The innovative use of visual images as communication mode and stimulus to writing is provided by Jan, a teacher on one of the Nuffield courses. Children, and adults, have trouble in making effective notes as preparation for extended writing, most frequently because they lack a specific purpose (Neate, 2001). Jan had found her class struggled with written note-taking, despite her explicit teaching. So she introduced an imaginative, pictorial note-making strategy to promote learning in both literacy and history. Jan first modelled the method, by telling the class a personal story about her car blowing up, then drawing pictures to tell the story in visual form. A child retold the story to the class, using the pictures as prompts. Jan then narrated the Battle of Bosworth, first in outline to provide the children with a conceptual framework...