Chorlton — An exercise book built around a repeating Key Point, Feedback and Response cycle

The brief

Chorlton came to us for an exercise book that would carry one consistent feedback and response routine through every lesson, in every subject. The team wanted children to self-check their work against the same checklist each time, capture the key point of the lesson in their own words, receive teacher, peer or self feedback in a dedicated panel, and then act on that feedback in a clearly marked Response space — closing the loop on the page rather than in the margin. The book also needed to function as a literacy reference children could turn to mid-lesson, and to set out the school's presentation expectations up front so the rules sit inside every book.

What we designed

Working with Chorlton, we built an exercise book organised around four repeating components.

A contents and notes opening so children can index their own work as the book fills up.
A repeating lesson spread used for every piece of work: a left-hand page with a Checklist (Spelling / Grammar / Punctuation / "Remember to double check your work…"), a Key Point "I have learnt…" panel for the child to capture the lesson's headline in their own words, and a Feedback box marked Teacher / Peer / Self; facing it, a full Response page headed "Show us what you can do now…" — giving every piece of feedback a dedicated place to be acted on.
A literacy reference section covering the four areas children are checking against: a "Communicating with Others" oracy checklist (sharing ideas, using Standard English, building on what's said, asking questions, matching vocabulary to purpose and audience), spelling tips (SpellSpeak, mnemonics, words within words, word webs, breaking words into affixes), a punctuation guide running from full stops and capitals through to colons, semi-colons and brackets, and a grammar "Think / Check" guide on organisation, paragraphing, connectives, person, tense and ambitious word choice.
A ten-point presentation code on the inside back: keep your flight path up to date; blue or black ink; date written in full on the top right and underlined with a ruler; title centred and underlined; learning objective on the left; diagrams headed, ruled and labelled in ink; errors struck through with one ruled line and no correcting fluid; loose sheets stuck in neatly; tidy and graffiti free; "be proud of your work."

The finished book

One book, one repeating Checklist–Key Point–Feedback–Response routine, with the school's literacy reference and presentation expectations built into the pages — so the same standards apply whether a child opens it in maths, science, history or English.