Events

Are you looking for fun, engaging and effective ways to teach Phase 1 phonic skills, which align with good early years practice?

Date: 11th November 2024

Time: 3.45pm -5.15pm

Venue: Online (Zoom)

Wensum English Hub are delighted to be working alongside English Consultant, Lesley Clarke, as she delves into the effective teaching of early auditory discrimination and memory.

Lesley Clarke is an experienced class teacher and previous deputy head teacher, having taught for over 25 years. After leaving the classroom in 2020, Lesley became a full time educational consultant, specialising in the teaching of phonics and guided reading.

She had previously worked as a literacy consultant in the London Borough of Ealing, as well as writing for the Primary National Strategy, lectured at Brunel University and worked as a CLLD consultant.

Join Lesley Clarke, as she identifies a step by step approach to teaching the listening skills within Phase 1, which will meet the needs of your learners. Skills will be broken down into smaller steps to facilitate progress. Suitable activities will be shared and stories and songs utilised.

Suitable for all phonics schemes, this session will leave delegates feeling more confident in knowing how to develop children’s Phase 1 skills (focusing on auditory discrimination and memory) in engaging and effective ways.

Suitable for Nurseries, Early Years, Teachers and Special schools

Please note: A further session on visual discrimination can be booked separately.

Date - 4th December 2024

Time - 3.30PM - 4.45PM

Link - Remote (Zoom)

Cost: - FREE

Keynote Speaker: Jon Biddle

Jon Biddle is a teacher and English Coordinator at Moorlands Primary School In Norfolk. He is also an advisor for Empathy Lab and has a passion for developing genuine reading cultures.

In 2018, Jon won the Egmont Reading for Pleasure Experienced teacher award and coordinates the national Patron of Reading initiative, which supports authors and poets in developing relationships with schools. 

He is a member of the UKLA National Council, a regular contributor to the Open University Reading For Pleasure website and a reviewer for Books for Keeps and Just Imagine Story Centre. 

About the event:

Jon will talk about the importance of Reading for Pleasure in schools and about how his current school was ‘rebuilt’ around its reading culture. He will share a wide range of practical ideas and strategies that can be implemented in classrooms and across schools. He will talk about his own reading history, with attendees having an opportunity to think about and reflect upon their own. There will also be a chance to discuss the barriers that often exist when a school is trying to nurture lifelong readers. 

This session is an absolute must for schools looking to embed reading for pleasure in their schools!

Date 20th January 2025

Time 3.45-5.15pm

Keynote speaker: Lesley Clarke

Venue - Remote (via Zoom)

Cost: FREE

Discover a variety of ways to develop both word reading and language comprehension skills by incorporating effective shared reading sessions into your provision for reading.

 Course Description:

This training will consider how shared reading sessions can be structured to focus on the aspects of reading children need to develop at different stages in their reading journey (whilst on the school’s phonics programme). The training will include demonstrations of aspects of shared reading sessions using actual texts. The timetabling of shared reading will also be considered.

 Intended Learning Outcomes:

·       Improved practitioner understanding of shared reading and its features.

·       Improved practitioner confidence in planning and delivering effective shared reading sessions.

Particularly Useful For:

Practitioners working with children in Reception, Y1 & Y2 and older children still receiving phonics teaching and who

·      have had little/no shared reading training before

·      are unsure how to lead shared reading sessions

·      would like support to develop high quality shared reading sessions for their pupils

·      are NQTs

·      are school based trainees

What previous participants had to say about this course:

·       ‘It was very useful – lots of practical ideas.’

·       ‘Very useful and lots of great top tips. Would recommend.’

Date: 27th January 2025
Time: 9.30am - 3.30pm
Venue: The Nest 

Wensum English Hub are delighted to present, The Learning Lady, for this one-day training session aimed at developing early language skills for teaching assistants and support staff.

Developing communication and language through effective and timely interactions is critical in the EYFS;  it impacts on success in all areas of learning. But moving communication and language on through play isn’t easy. Join us for this practical, principled, training and learn what it takes to be the perfect play partner.

What you’ll learn:

• The role of EYFS partners in play and how this impacts on learning

• What sustained shared thinking actually is, and how to achieve it

• How the learning environment impacts on playful interactions

• Simple effective strategies for developing vocabulary through daily playful encounters

This is the perfect training for you if you are….

• A TA supporting learning in the EYFS

• An ECT  or teacher new to EYFS

• Support staff

Wensum English Hub are delighted to present a brand new workshop, led by two experienced early years practitioners and former CLLD consultants, The Learning Lady and Lesley Clarke.

Date: 30th January 2025

Time: 3.45pm - 5.15pm

Venue: Online (Zoom)

Designed to clarify how you can easily develop early visual discrimination skills which progress into the introduction of letters in meaningful, early years appropriate ways. The session gives you:

- an understanding of how visual discrimination skills develop and lead to letter recognition.

- an awareness of the stages involved in children learning to recognise and write their names.

- a bank of early years appropriate activities you can use immediately in your settings to develop visual discrimination skills, as well as name recognition and writing.

- an understanding of ineffective ways to teach letters to children

Don’t miss this opportunity to finally get the clarification you’ve been looking for and the tools you need to give your learners the best possible start on their journeys to becoming readers and writers.

Date - 6th February 2025

Time - 3.30PM - 4.45PM

Link - Remote (Zoom)

Cost: - FREE

Keynote Speaker: Jon Biddle

Jon Biddle is a teacher and English Coordinator at Moorlands Primary School In Norfolk. He is also an advisor for Empathy Lab and has a passion for developing genuine reading cultures.

In 2018, Jon won the Egmont Reading for Pleasure Experienced teacher award and coordinates the national Patron of Reading initiative, which supports authors and poets in developing relationships with schools. 

He is a member of the UKLA National Council, a regular contributor to the Open University Reading For Pleasure website and a reviewer for Books for Keeps and Just Imagine Story Centre. 

About the event:

With the recent surge in the popularity of graphic novels showing no sign of stopping; this session will be looking at how graphic novels can be used effectively in the classroom, both to help develop Reading for Pleasure and to improve children’s writing!

Jon will share book recommendations from his class and talk about the impact that graphic novels can have.

There will also be a Q&A at the end of the session

This session is an absolute must for schools looking to embed reading for pleasure in their schools!

Learning to read matters for every child or young person. 

This DfE funded programme explores the appropriate teaching, support, and provision for the lowest-attaining children in reading, with a particular focus on those with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Delivered over five half-day sessions, the programme will: 

• Help delegates identify the causes of current gaps in attainment for pupils with SEND and their underperforming peers

• Offer practical guidance on how to use validated SSPs programmes successfully

• Help to improve reading of the slowest progress children

This programme has been developed by drawing on expert advice from disability charities, leading academics, the EEF, validated SSPs, school leaders, Ofsted, the reading framework and the SEND code of practices.

Schools can sign up below to express an interest in joining this programme.

Ofsted identify that the communication and language skills a child has by the age of 5 years old can predict their future success in life. In fact, by the age of 5, children with below age-related communication and language skills are six times more likely to need additional support in English by year 6.

Wensum English Hub are delighted to present our DfE funded Supporting Early Language Development Programme.  This FREE 6 session programme, run over the course of the year, will equip delegates with the skills, knowledge to identify children who may not be meeting language skills at ARE. In addition, the course will provide practical classroom skills and techniques for quality first teaching of language and vocabulary in YR and KS1. Delegates will gain an understanding of a working model of language development through the primary years.

Schools can sign up below to express an interest in joining our 2024-25 cohort of Supporting Early Language Development. 

Transforming your School’s Reading Culture (TSRC)

Wensum English Hub are delighted to be offering a FREE medium level support group for English leaders looking at developing a whole school reading community and culture.

Reading for Pleasure- Transforming your School's Reading Culture (TSRC) has been designed by New Vision English Hub, Teresa Cremmins and the DfE and supports The Reading Framework.

The TSRC programme is a sustained, research based CPD programme, aimed at primary English Leads. 

The aims of the programme is for leaders to:

·         Understand the research underpinning RfP practice and pedagogy

·         Widen knowledge of children’s literature

·         Transform whole school reading culture in your school

·         Develop the leadership skills to initiate and sustain change

·         Become advocates for RfP and share experiences and best practice 

The programme consists of 5 core sessions run by Wensum English Hub and complete gap tasks in between sessions.

Schools can sign up below to express an interest in joining our 2024-25 cohort of TSRC. 

What is Reading Fluency?

Reading fluency is defined as being a combination of automaticity, accuracy and prosody.

When a reader can apply these three components to a text which is appropriately pitched for them, then they can be described as a fluent reader.

Our Reading Fluency Project works to significantly improve outcomes for pupils and is designed to help equip teachers to improve fluency and comprehension in a short space of time, across primary and secondary phases of education. The suite of key stage specific projects are based on a combination of well-evidenced strategies including: 

• modelled expert prosody
• repeated reading
• echo reading
• text marking
• performance reading
• modelled comprehension

About the course

Reading fluency instruction is, quite rightly, a hot topic across the sector. Use this opportunity to incorporate research-based approaches and transform your curriculum and pedagogy from the ground up.   

Our course provides you with a comprehensive approach to teaching reading fluency that spans the entire curriculum. We will teach you how to weight the impactful strategies used in HFL Education's Reading Fluency Project, and how to artfully thread them through all subjects from science to PSHE, mathematics to languages. We will empower you to create a fluency-rich learning environment. 

Our experienced Reading Fluency Project specialists will use their expertise and knowledge to guide you through a range of practical strategies, real-world examples, and hands-on activities.  

Much of the learning that takes place across the school day is hooked into the complex skill of reading. We use this knowledge to bring whole class, simple to implement, high-impact pedagogy to all your subjects to support pupils to access learning, regardless of their starting points. Learn how to use ongoing reading assessment to tailor your teaching strategies across the curriculum to meet to the diverse needs of your pupils. 

Connect with a community of teachers, dedicated to promoting reading fluency across the curriculum. Share ideas, collaborate on projects, and stay inspired by the success stories of your peers. 

Join us on the journey to create a classroom where reading fluency becomes the key to unlocking a world of knowledge in every subject.  

 Learning Outcomes

• explore practical approaches to assessment and teaching of reading fluency across the curriculum 
• define and explore reading fluency instruction across the curriculum
• investigate the most effective evidence-based practices 

This training is delivered as 2 sessions:

*            Session 1: Background Knowledge and Further Reading

This is an eLearning module accessed via the HFL Education Hub. Delegates will be set up on the HFL Education Hub approx. 1 week prior to the live training dates and will receive a confirmation email inviting them to start this module. This module should be completed before attending the live webinars; the module takes approximately 90-120 mins to complete.

*            Session 2: This live webinar will run from 1-4.15pm on Monday 24th February 2025

Wensum English Hub invites anyone committed to developing children’s desire, delight and engagement as readers to join our online OU/UKLA Reading Group. Informal, friendly and supportive we welcome teachers, Librarians, Student Teachers and Support Staff to join us and commit to attending all five virtual CPD sessions.

 We will be developing evidence-informed practice, widening our knowledge of  children’s literature and other texts, enriching our RfP pedagogy and documenting the impact on the young people as readers.

Key Dates

Launch - 10th September 2024 (3.45pm-4.30pm)

Session 1 -  8th October 2024

Session 2 - 10th December 2024

Session 3 - 4th February 2025

Session 4 - 25th March 2025

Session 5 - 24th June 2025

Time - All sessions will be 4pm - 5.30pm 

Location: Remote via Zoom

Our friendly and supportive Reading for Pleasure CPD sessions are open to everyone, but may be best suited to: teachers (of all key stages), Student teachers, Librarians and Support Staff.

All sessions are free to attend, please commit to attending all five sessions.

Would you like to find out more about potential funding and literacy support for your school?

Wensum English Hub is fully funded by the DfE to support schools with phonics and early reading - schools in a priority area may be eligible for up to £9,000!

We help schools achieve excellent teaching through developing early language, closing the word gap, approaching early reading through systematic synthetic phonics, and promoting a love of reading.

If you think your school would benefit from funding and bespoke support, join us for a 30 minutes online briefing led by our English Hub Lead.

Dates available:

• Monday 11th November 2024 - 1pm - 1.30pm
• Thursday 12th December 2024 - 3.30pm - 4pm