
Children of Calais
In our busy lives it is often easier to carry on as usual even when we know something tragic is unfolding close to home. The inspirational Kate McAllister took action - and turned an idea into a bus into a school - and drove it to Calais.
Pie Corbett and Sugata Mitra in latest Literate Times
The latest edition of Literate Times has been published and mailed to every UK primary and secondary, featuring articles by a range of literacy specialists like Pie Corbett and Sugata Mitra. Get yours here now.
Lies, damned lies and statistics – a day at ResearchEd 2015.
I really wasn’t sure what to expect in my search for Literacy research in a visit to the ResearchEd 2015 where Nick Gibb was keynoting. I wasn't surprised to find the market is dominated by 1:1 interventions and the research is often pretty weak.

On TAs, mindsets and elephants.
With school budgets getting tighter and expectations rising, school leaders have to be creative at the best of times. But often an answer might be right under their nose, like an elephant in the room. Power to TEAM TA. #TEAMTA
On TAs, mindsets and elephants.
With school budgets getting tighter and expectations rising, school leaders have to be creative at the best of times. But often an answer might be right under their nose, like an elephant in the room. Power to TEAM TA. #TEAMTA

Education – the Battle of David vs Goliath
A few thoughts after a couple of days at conference with the most inspiring speakers, all teachers like Sir Ken Robinson, Prof. Sugata Mitra and the son of a Sally Army Saint. All Davids.

To Test or Not to Test, That’s the Question

KS2 Reading Success
See ReadingWise English in action and find out what learners think of it, how it works for TAs and why this head is in.

UK literacy figures ‘fixed’ by OECD report
Exclusive: secret papers released show that foreign competitors conspired to taint UK’s reputation by fixing figures to put us at 22 out of 26 countires

Are YOU concerned about education? Because they are. So, tell THEM.
First look at two milestone publications from two of the world's leading educationalists, Sir Ken Robinson and Professor Guy Claxton. And they seem to be almost angry men. We give THEM and you the chance to tell OUR politicians what YOU think.
"Keep children away from iPads” says UK Education Tsar. Or did he?
A flurry of social media activity kicked off this new school year week after a few headlines in the Sunday papers: ‘Take tablets from schools, says tsar’ – screamed the Sunday Times. But did he? Should he have?

Reading: The Next Steps
Independent summary of the government’s March 5th 2015 published plans for further raising standards of reading in schools.

The ReadingWise Story - Jump-Starting Reading
This post, and the accompanying video, outline some of the key features of the UK literacy landscape today, and outline the work we are doing to support positive change.

Feeding back - a ReadingWise feature
This feature makes it easy and efficient to give us feedback - from hugs to bugs

Dashboard - a ReadingWise feature
The Dashboard allows you to gain insight quickly into your learners and the progress they are making.

On the Science of Happiness and Learning Part III: Mother of All Learning
The final part of our series of blogs looking at happiness and learning in the classroom.

On the Science of Happiness and Learning Part II: An Apology for Confusion
Part two of our three-part look at happiness in the classroom.

On the Science of Happiness and Learning Part I: Pleasure Principles
The first in a three-part series looking at happiness and learning in the classroom
Forget reading, let’s teach our children to enjoy chocolate this half term
Observations and a short film of a gathering of politicians, Lords and a Baroness in Whitehall to discuss literacy and library provision policy. Some very interesting perspectives on how we teach our children to read.
6,000 copies of Literate Times given away at BETT 2015
Welcome to The Literate Times January 2015 edition, which brings together news and views from the world of literacy