Teachers’ Comments following SRS in Oxford, November 2011

•  The programme has cleared the fog of knowing how to teach reading and spelling effectively. It will revolutionise my approach. As Headteacher of a primary school, I will now ensure that reading and spelling are taught in this way from when a child first starts school. The training is just the beginning, the real work is yet to be done!! My colleagues and I now need to evaluate our whole approach to teaching literacy ensuring that SRS is a central part of every child’s experience. My goal is to ensure that every child in school becomes a highly skilled reader and a proficient speller before they leave us at age 11. The course has made me want to return to the classroom!!

  JB Headteacher of Primary School, Newark

   

   

  The teaching of reading and spelling – along with handwriting – will no longer be seen as a series of separate activities – the programme and the activities within it, approaches all skills concurrently.

  Phonics lessons will no longer lack structure or direction.

  I will no longer need to ‘concoct’ interesting activities to hold my learners’ interests – now understanding that a standard/uniform approach to sessions is what they need and it is the very progress they make which will mean that the sessions are inherently ‘interesting’ to them!

  I will be able to diagnose the needs of all learners far more accurately and will have an appropriate solution to hand rather than adopting a ‘trial and error’ solution approach.

  An enormously thorough and satisfying course which was absolutely appropriate to my needs. Although all of those who attended had very different backgrounds and needs, the teaching of approaches to suit learners of all ages and stages was entirely appropriate – there was no point at which any of us considered that an aspect ‘did not apply’, whether our immediate concerns were with young children at ‘foundation’ or older children/adults at ‘catch-up’.

  JA Yr1 Primary Class teacher, Oxfordshire

   

   

  The programme has re-ignited my interest in the English language and in teaching it. Seeing the teaching of reading/writing in this systematic way is eye-opening, because the system makes possible what has been, in the past, a partly impossible task – i.e. teaching reading/writing to a certain section of pupils who just never ‘got it’. I’m grateful that this system will never date, unlike other computer-based systems, for example. I look forward to understanding more about the English language and its patterns as I begin teaching using this method.

  Thank you for such a well and fully structured programme, that even the failing reader can get hold of. I very much appreciated the theoretical background and the hands on approach during our four days and that we can now make a difference to people whose lives have been blighted by illiteracy. I can’t wait to use the system with disadvantaged individuals in south London and also I hope to use it this summer on a trip to an A.I.D.S. orphanage in Uganda. Thank you so much for giving us the tools to enhance other people’s lives.

  CR English Secondary teacher, now working with the disadvantaged, homeless and Young Offenders, London SE20

   

   

  I will concentrate on developing the key skills of segmenting, blending and sound processing in my learners, and use these skills in conjunction with the 4 keys to teach them that the 44 phonemes in English can be encoded with common spelling patterns; and that to read they need to know how to decode these spellings. Furthermore that is vital to link the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic senses to ensure the learner learns as speedily as possible and that lessons must always build on prior knowledge in a logical sequence working from the simple to the complex.

  I loved the course and wish I had had this input 15 years ago at teacher training college. I feel that I have a chance of starting all over again and, hopefully, this time I will be successful in teaching reading – my first pupil will be my son.

  The location of the course, the facilities provided and the delivery of the content were excellent. Your personality, dedication and enthusiasm shown through everything you taught us, and provided a real feeling of support and ‘we can make a difference’.

  SMK Supply teacher, home tutor, mother of child struggling to learn to read, Cambs

    

   

  I have found the programme enlightening and inspirational. I now have a structure to follow, and the ability to explain to learners how the code works and the steps to work through to achieve success.  I will avoid doing ‘a bit of everything’ and stick with this concept and hope to make progress.  I have already started to test a couple of pupils and watched their faces light up as we built their names and identified any unusual spellings and key 2 sounds.  We also built lined up the spellings for /ee/ in a column. I have been sharing the skills required for reading with my teaching colleagues and feel that much of this can be adapted for the classroom too.  I have been asked to speak about the course at our SfL network In-service day next week and hope to get the chance to share more with the classroom teachers at my school.

  KA Support for Learning Teacher from Aberdeenshire Council

   

   

  The teaching was dynamic, providing a good balance between background theory, practical demonstrations and opportunities to ‘have a go’ ourselves, footage of the code being used in different  contexts and anecdotal references. To be able to watch the code demonstrated with children in the films was particularly valuable.

  JB Headteacher of Primary School, Newark

   

   

  The organisation for learning was excellent – daily handouts, colour coded resources, practical activities, background theory, demonstrations, video-clips. Fiona’s teaching was inspirational, her enthusiasm infectious. There was never any clock watching and it always came as a surprise when I suddenly realised it was time for lunch or 5:00 already!

  CC Yr3 Primary Class teacher, responsible for literacy, Newark

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