Andrew McCully OBE, who masterminded the new-look literacy and numeracy strategies, was at Weeke Primary School, Winchester, to learn from the children.
He is visiting several schools to see how the current system is working.
Mr McCully is head of pupil standards at the Department of Education and Skills.
"The timing of this visit has been really helpful," he said.
"The department is keen to embed the lessons learned from current practice. It was particularly interesting to see how Weeke has worked using phonics to help children with spelling and reading."
In one classroom, there was a familiar face. His sister, Gillian, is the deputy head and Key Stage 1 co-ordinator at Weeke and her work was highly praised in the school's most recent Ofsted inspection.
Head teacher, Maggie Hastie, said she was thrilled that Weeke had been chosen for one of the visits from the department. "It is really exciting to be involved in helping to shape future policy," she added.
"The children really enjoyed having a friendly observer in the classroom and delighted in sharing their work with Mr McCully."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article