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- Back to basics – establishing firm foundations for writing.
- Planning for success – a workable, realistic overview of writing for the primary school, covering fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
- Planning for progression in writing.
- Extended writing – what does it mean and how can we achieve it?
- Top tips to get your pupils writing with purpose, power and pleasure.
According to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists …
‘There are fewer Speech and Language Therapists per head of population in Wales than any other part of the UK, as reflected in our membership data’.
This has had a huge impact on waiting times and access to support for pupils presenting with various speech and language difficulties across Wales. What can we do to support these pupils while they are waiting to be seen?
Whether you have some knowledge of speech and language difficulties or absolutely none this course is for you.
Drama is an Expressive Arts subject which children need to learn about and experience, as Drama makers, performers and responders. This course will outline what children need to learn about, the skills they need to develop, and the Drama experiences they will hopefully have during their primary school years. A possible curriculum framework for Drama will be presented, that focuses attention on the continuity and progression of Drama learning and skills. Ways of mapping Drama across your curriculum will also be considered, as Drama can support the teaching of other subjects and areas, and help learners develop towards the four purposes.
- A Drama Curriculum Framework
- The Powerpoint (as a PDF)
- 2 cross-curricular primary lesson plans
- A published article
A half-day online course to refresh the teaching of reading.
To become effective readers pupils need to crack the phonic code and learn to make meaning independently. Pupils need explicit teaching to become effective readers and many daily opportunities to practise and apply their skills in live contexts. The 9 Reading Behaviours help pupils to learn what to do as they read. Initially, pupils learn each behaviour one-by-one, and overtime they learn to synthesise the behaviours, choosing the most useful strategies to unlock a text in any given context.
The 9 Reading Behaviours help pupils to solve problems as they read, engage with the text and to reflect on content.
Participating Schools have the option to purchase The Reading Behaviours pack at the discounted price of £365.75 (25% reduction), which contains 325 ideas and 175 bespoke resources to help busy teachers to provide engaging, stimulating and purposeful reading tasks.
A half-day online course to map extended writing opportunities
Estyn stresses the need for teachers to plan opportunities for authentic, independent extended writing across the curriculum. Estyn notes:
Overall, pupils do not have regular opportunities to write independently, particularly when writing in other areas of the curriculum.
This course helps you to plan for effective extended writing.
It will:
- Look at a model for planning extended writing in PS2 and PS3
- Explore how to map writing across the AoLEs and consider effective task setting
- Investigate ways to help pupils to retrieve and use information in their own writing.
- Enable you to give your pupils meaningful opportunities to apply skills learnt in literacy in authentic ways.
The Spring and Summer modules can be booked together to gain a saving. The days can also be booked as stand-alone days.
This 1-day course is part of a 3-day rolling programme. The days do not have to be done in any order and can be stand alone 1-day courses.
A half-day online course to enhance the teaching of writing.
Pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar errors far too frequently make their writing clumsy and hard to read. Their creativity and knowledge can be obscured by weak transcription skills.
This course will consider techniques to help you and your pupils to focus on accuracy in writing.
We will:
- Explore ways to help pupils to learn from their spelling errors
- Investigate how to support pupils to edit their work after completing the first draft and before marking
- Consider what pupils can do after marking to learn from any highlighted errors
- With support and guidance pupils can learn to write with clarity and precision.
A half-day online course to refresh the teaching of writing in WM4
Schools are charged with developing pupils’ creativity in WM4 (Literature Fires the Imagination) as pupils create their own literature.
Story writing allows pupils to explore ideas; expand their imaginations and express their unique view of the world. Opportunities to compose stories help children to grow.
This course will:
- Explore ways to use fiction texts to stimulate pupils’ imaginations
- Investigate ways to help pupils to plan narratives
- Consider how to help pupils to describe character and setting
- Think about the tips we can give pupils to write with flair and inventiveness.
- With focus we can help pupils to enjoy writing stories.
This course explains how teachers can use whole class Drama to stimulate and practically support children, as individual and collaborative talkers and writers. It outlines how teachers can co-participate, as models, co-writers, editors and commissioners of writing at different stages of the writing process. Drama provides meaningful contexts, reasons and audiences for writing, as well as generating shared experiences and meaningful content. Some key Drama strategies will be presented as ‘Thought and Talk’ frames and links made between certain Drama strategies, different types of talk, and specific types of writing. A primary drama lesson will be presented, (a step at a time) and ways in which it is specifically supporting and leading children into writing, will be highlighted.
- 2 ‘Drama for Writing’ lessons
- The edited Powerpoint (as a PDF)
- 2 published articles
- A booklet of Drama Strategies
This 1-day course is part of a 3-day rolling programme. The days do not have to be done in any order and can be stand alone 1-day courses.