Thanks to L W-B

You know what they say? There are lies, damn lies and press reports about the government’s phonics screening check – especially in the Independent. I think Leveson should be instructed to look into journalistic standards at the Independent.The latest, penned pseudonymously by ‘Jennifer Jackson’, has got to be one of the most rebarbative fabrications I have… Continue reading Independent? Only from the truth when it comes to phonics

On a phonics training I ran on Tuesday for graduate teachers on the GTP course, I had a most interesting conversation with one of the trainees. The trainee has been asked to teach some phonics lessons in a Buckinghamshire primary school and showed me a list of spellings that were to be sent home each week.… Continue reading Phonically challenged!

While arguments rage about state versus private versus free schools, a quiet flanking movement is taking place: the growth of the virtual school or education online. As a tutor for the Open University for sixteen years, as well as being an online student with the OU myself, I’m a big fan of online study. Every… Continue reading Virtual school?

As minister of state for schools, Nick Gibb knew very well the need for ringing the changes in education. He understood well that a bull in a china shop approach would be counterproductive in assisting Michael Gove in bringing about those much needed changes. As a result, he tended to be pretty even-handed, dispensing adverse criticism of… Continue reading Goodbye Mr Gibb

I thought Sounds-Write practitioners and other readers of the blog would like to catch sight of a couple of testimonials we received at the end of last term. The first, from Pinchmill Lower School in Felmersham, Bedfordford, comes from the head teacher, Vanessa Coleman. Vanessa writes: Dear John, I thought I would write to you… Continue reading Plaudits for Sounds-Write

The new school year starts with me looking forward to the publication on September 6th of David Crystal’s new book on spelling. As readers of this blog well know, I am a huge fan of Crystal’s work. Crystal’s knowledge of the English language is encyclopaedic and he is one of the few writers on the… Continue reading Spelling crystallised

Seen outside a primary school in Bedford the other day and posted to me by a happy parent!

Until this morning, I’ve only received one result of the phonics screening test from a school in Kent and that doesn’t give me all the facts and figures, but I’ve been thinking more about this test. Firstly, I was never really convinced that giving this kind of test at the end of Year 1 was… Continue reading Phonics food for thought

Aren’t you just sick of listening to ministers like Leighton Andrews telling us all how rosy everything in the garden is going to be with a bit of ‘upskilling’? Apparently, Welsh pupils are going to be the latest beneficiaries of the ‘excellent teaching of literacy’ that Mr Andrews is going to bring in. There’s that… Continue reading 2015? It’s still too late, Leighton!