Disadvantaged children face worse outcomes in some rich areas – report Britain is in a ‘spiral of ever-growing division’ with rural and coastal regions being left behind, warns social mobility tsar https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/28/disadvantaged-children-face-worse-outcomes-in-rich-are...

‘Working-class children get less of everything in education - including respect’ Interview Diane Reay grew up on a council estate, the eldest of eight, and became a Cambridge professor. Now she wants to talk about inequality in education https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/21/english-clas...

How to Get Your Mind to Read

By DANIEL T. WILLINGHAM NOV. 25, 2017



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/opin ... pe=article

Jenny said: 'They are allowed to walk before being expected to run, and this means that they develop confidence right from the outset. Many take off in reading and spelling long before being taught all the complexities.' That's the wonderful thing about systematic synthetic phonics, once young child...

Thanks Jenny. A big thank you and well done to Anne, Sarah and Gordon, great advocacy for Synthetic Phonics. A must see presentation which needs as wide an audience as possible.

Big Issue seller always with 'book on the go' wins place at Cambridge Lifelong reading passion leads to Hughes Hall course for Geoff Edwards, 52, who endured jobless spells and lived on streets https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/08/big-issue-seller-always-with-book-on-the-go-wins-place-a...

Poor literacy skills hold poorer pupils back in science A report, published by the Education Endowment Foundation and the Royal Society, has reviewed existing studies to identify interventions and teaching approaches that have a positive impact on pupil learning in science, particularly for pupils f...

SATs test which was 'too middle class' has been criticised by the exam regulator

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/20 ... regulator/

Here's a piece from yesterdays Observer, it's part of a bigger article 'Is Capitalism at the crossroads?' The piece by Professor Ngaire Woods of the University of Oxford looks at the part that literacy plays in a democracy. “In 2017, the fastest growing economies are for the most part not free-marke...

Laptops are great, but not if it means the end of handwriting Students are now so dependent on their laptops for writing that they may soon be allowed to use them in university exams. But writing by hand is still an important skill https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/11/laptops-handwri...

Schools abandon exclusion of sixth-formers after parents complain


https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... s-complain

I agree Geraldine that after good initial Synthetic Phonics teaching sustained volume of reading is crucial for building up a strong, wide ranging vocabulary which is so vital to good reading comprehension and is especially important for children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. I would also...

Cambridge considers typed exams as handwriting worsens The increasing illegibility of students’ handwriting has prompted Cambridge University to consider ending 800 years of tradition by allowing laptops to replace pen and paper for exams. Academics say that students are losing the ability to write ...

Calls for inquiry into grammar school that 'unlawfully' excluded students Parents and former governors at a leading grammar school found to be systematically excluding pupils halfway through their A-level studies say there needs to be a full inquiry in order to restore confidence in the school. St O...

'It cannot be a coincidence that the rising popularity of reading for pleasure for children follows on so neatly from the introduction of sp in all schools - more like cause and effect for me.'

Absolutely agree FE tutor.