Shhh, tell no one! Let’s face it there’s nothing more intriguing than a secret. So get ready to be ‘M’, Head of your school’s Secret Intelligence Service, and start recruiting some literacy spies.

Approaching a spy topic experientially can be a lot of fun but importantly it also helps children reach some of the emotions they might feel in spying scenarios and also helps familiarise themselves with the language used in spy stories.

Start by copying the Secret Agent questionnaire and putting them in a brown envelope with ‘Top Secret: Your mission’ written in red. Recruit someone to dress as a spy – trench coat, Trilby hat, briefcase – and ask them to surreptitiously wait outside your classroom door. Ask one of the children to see what the ‘spy’ wants – though as this mission is ‘For your eyes only’, they will have to fetch you. And so, it begins…