Doagh Primary School — A whole-school exercise book built around "Aspire, Aim, Achieve" and the school's seven marking codes

The brief

Doagh Primary School came to us wanting one exercise book that could carry the school's identity and behaviours across the whole curriculum — so a Year 3 numeracy book, a Year 5 literacy book and a Year 6 topic book all look like Doagh books, follow the same presentation rules, and use the same marking code. The school's Aspire, Aim, Achieve line and its six values — Determination, Resilience, Empowerment, Appreciation, Motivation, Safety — needed to sit on the cover, and the marking codes teachers use in pen ("Tickled pink", "Green for growth", VF, WS and the rest) needed to be inside the book so children can read them back themselves.

What we designed

Working with the school, we built a 68-page A4 book that opens with the school's ethos, runs the writing pages through the middle, and closes on the school rules.
A yellow cover carrying the Doagh Primary School crest top-left and a name/title/class block top-right, with the lower half giving over to Aspire, Aim, Achieve and the six values — Determination, Resilience, Empowerment, Appreciation, Motivation, Safety — set as cloud bubbles around a photo or "this book belongs to" frame in the centre.
A "Great learners at Doagh Primary School always…" spread with five learner-behaviours — are determined and motivated to succeed, are resilient and keep trying, support and help each other, present our work to the highest standard, are not afraid to make mistakes — sat above an "And when we get stuck we…" strip with the school's four stuck-strategies: Remember success comes in CANS not CAN'TS, Use brain, book, board, buddy, boss, Look at the working wall, and Climb out of the learning pit.
A My Targets termly tracker with three target lines per child running across Autumn, Spring and Summer, sitting on the same page as the full Doagh Primary School Marking Code — Spot marking (Tickled pink and Green for growth), Next steps, Student/Supply, With support (WS), a tick for correct work, a dot for mistakes, and VF for verbal feedback — with the footer line "Try new things and take risks and make mistakes."
Lined writing pages with a left-hand date margin and a built-in footer panel carrying three feedback tools children fill in lesson by lesson: a Feedback block (teacher / peer / self / other), a three-face Self-Assessment scale, and a four-star Differentiation Assessment scale — so the response to the lesson is part of the page, not a sticker on top of it.
An Exercise Book Expectations for Success spread, illustrated rather than bullet-pointed, covering the school's presentation rules — every piece of work has a date and learning intention, diagrams in pencil, mistakes neatly crossed out (not scribbled), ruler for underlining, no graffiti, no tearing pages, "your exercise book is your responsibility… a record of your hard work."
A full-page Doagh Primary School Rules infographic inside the back cover — twelve rules in coloured tiles, including Follow directions first time, Leave the excuses and poor behaviour at the door, Listen carefully and raise your hand to speak, Demonstrate our school values and dream big, Use kind words and be polite, Be on time and ready to learn, Always do your best and never give up, Do the right thing not the easy thing, Walk quietly and sensibly around school, Be honest, Respect yourself and others, and Work hard and celebrate your successes — so the rules and the writing pages live in the same book.

The finished book

68-page A4 copies were printed in the UK and carbon balanced from print through to delivery.