Latest (spring) issue of American Educator includes an extensive piece from Willingham's book:

For the Love of Reading
Engaging Students in a Lifelong Pursuit
By Daniel T. Willingham

http://www.aft.org/ae/spring2015/willingham

I'm a bit disappointed that the secondary case studies focussed on things like DEAR and didn't mention what was done for the children who come into sec. struggling with their reading. DEAR? DIRE more like it :( I searched for advice from the DfE for secondary catch-up and the most recent info. I co...

New DfE paper out today with an introduction by Nick Gibb Reading: the next steps How the government will support schools to improve reading standards, and promote reading for pleasure. This document is aimed at all schools. It outlines the government’s approach to reading, and sets out: - evidence ...

There's an extract from Willingham's forthcoming book, in the TES tomorrow https://news.tes.co.uk/b/tes-professional/2015/02/26/phonics-versus-whole-word-who-wins-the-reading-battle.aspx “What sound do you associate with the letter 'p'?” Willingham asks. “You might think of it as 'puh' but that’s ac...

Joyce Morris obituary http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/16/joyce-morris In 1983 she began an investigation at Roehampton Institute of Higher Education (now Roehampton University) to discover to what extent student teachers, at the beginning of their pre-service courses, understood the na...

You might like to investigate Debbie's Handwriting website:

http://www.debbiehepplewhitehandwriting.com/

There's also the National Handwriting Association -for advice:

http://www.nha-handwriting.org.uk/

It's fine on this thread -on topic!

Free customisable handwriting sheets to print out:
http://www.senteacher.org/Worksheet/35/ ... ting.xhtml

The wonderful Prof. Daniel Willingham has written a book about reading (published 1st April) Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raising-Kids-Who-Read-Teachers/dp/1118769724/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422969703&sr=1-1&keywords=Raising+Kids+Who+Read!#r...

Tricia Millar has updated her website: Phonics for Adults and Teens There's a very informative ppt: http://trt-for-teachers.com/phonics-for-adults/ Also some short video clips: Word Building versus Spelling http://trt-for-teachers.com/2015/01/08/word-building-versus-spelling/ And, if you click on 'D...

BBC Radio World Service. The Forum

Listen to:

Professor Karin James

Why handwriting is good for brain development

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hnxmq

More bad news from Wales re. literacy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-30778644 In a report on literacy standards of 11 to 14-year-olds, education watchdog Estyn blamed a lack of time and support for schools. The provision to develop pupils' literacy skills in a majority of schools was only "adeq...

I think this may be related Diane McG's book 'Growing a Reader from Birth' (excellent book BTW) has a section on categorical perception . ''Sounds closer to a ba are heard as a clear ba, and sounds closer to a pa are heard as a clear pa. The brain insists on filing these sounds into two categories a...

So, how's the Welsh play-based curriculum for 3-7yr olds doing in its bid to break the link between poverty and low attainment?

I think you can guess.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... nk-8409110

BTW, if you're interested in finding out about a particular school's performance in the KS2 SATs 2014, use this

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/

Gordon Askew writes about the role of synthetic phonics in 'catch up' 'And now for something completely different' http://ssphonix.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/and-now-for-something-completely.html I am often asked about the role of phonics in 'catch up'. Some learners are in KS2, KS3 or beyond and, sadly...