Flowing from more limited speech, language and communication, in the early years, through more limited vocabulary acquisition pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds struggle to attain the more advanced literacy levels of their advantaged peers. Disaffection and exclusion are all too often rooted in this simple narrative. Continue reading
I rather like the line from Alex Quigley that we’re all teachers of English because we all teach in English. Similar thinking follows for being teachers of literacy and teachers of reading. When I was teaching Science, many moons ago, I’d probably have rolled my eyes at the statement and thought another thing for me to do rather than seeing literacy as the golden thread that potentially runs through all subjects. Crack literacy and you are likely to succeed at school and arguably in life. Continue reading
I’ve always thought that reading, literacy in general, was the gateway to the curriculum. Without it students struggle to access subjects and their content. A number of months ago I first met Jamie Fries and decided with the academies three head teachers to employ ReadingWise across the Trust to help improve reading and comprehension skills. Continue reading