Menu
Download our brochure
Empowering Every Voice: Developing Oracy and Literacy Through Inclusive Practices and Poetry
At a time when we are all devoting time to thinking about the impact of oracy in our schools and how we might use the available advice and resources to enhance the talking and listening skills of our children, we will devote the morning session to this important area of school life.
Ruth Baker-Leask, Gateway’s English Network Leader, will explore the issue of shyness and the importance of making space for every voice in the classroom (and when it might ok to not expect a child to talk!).
Maria Arnold from Southfields Primary School in Peterborough will talk about her implementation journey towards a high-quality oracy education focusing on the importance of introducing change at the right pace to ensure a strongly embedded and sustainable approach.
Developing Children as Readers and Writers Through Poetry
In the afternoon, award winning poet Matt Goodfellow (Author and Poet) and Charlotte Hacking (Learning and Programme Director at CLPE) will share why poetry is a unique and important genre for developing oracy, fluency and comprehension and choice, voice and authorial intent as writers.
Through a series of practical activities, we will explore the power of poetry on children’s developing literacy across the primary years. We’ll explore how to embed a range of poetry activities into sequences of work to encourage children to listen to, read, perform and respond to poetry. This will lead to an understanding of how to create authentic writing practices where children can write in their own voices about subjects of their own choice in classrooms and will be based on Matt and Charlotte’s experience of writing and editing Matt’s breakthrough verse novel ‘The Final Year’, and sequel ‘The First Year’, publishing in April 2025.
DATE: Friday 21st March 2025
TIME: 09:30-15:30
VENUE: Heart of England Conference Centre, Meriden Rd, Fillongley, Coventry, CV7 8DX
COST: £230 per person
_______________________________________________________________
Schools who subscribe to the Gateway Alliance – ENGLISH subject leader network have 1 FREE place per school.
Costs will be incurred for additional places and for schools that do not subscribe. Please contact us for details.
BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL
If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact us on 02476 347697 or email: info@gatewayalliance.co.uk
Matt Goodfellow
Former primary school teacher Matt Goodfellow is now a full-time author and poet who visits schools across the country to give hugely popular, high-energy performances and workshops. His first poetry collection for Otter-Barry Books, Chicken on the Roof, received wide acclaim. His collection Bright Bursts of Colour won the North Somerset Book Award and was shortlisted by the CLiPPA.
He is also the author of Caterpillar Cake, illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage and shortlisted for the CLiPPA award; Shu-Lin’s Grandpa, illustrated by Yu Rong and shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal and The Final Year, winner of the CLiPPA award 2024, and he is a contributor to CLiPPA-shortlisted poetry collection Being Me: Poems about Thoughts, Worries and Feelings (all published by Otter-Barry Books). He has written two poetry collections for older readers: Let’s Chase Stars Together, shortlisted for the CLiPPA award 2023, and Tomorrow We Begin, published in 2024. Matt lives in Stockport.
Charlotte Hacking
Charlotte Hacking is the Learning and Programme Director at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE). Her special interests lie in Early Years, early reading development, the development of writing and the use of picture books and poetry to raise children’s engagement and attainment. She developed and leads the CLPE’s groundbreaking Power of Pictures research, investigating the impact visual literacy and illustration can have on children’s reading and writing, identified by the EEF as a Promising Programme.
Charlotte also leads and develops CLPE’s poetry programme and research projects. Before joining CLPE, Charlotte was a class teacher and held several leadership posts including Assistant Headteacher, Literacy, Early Years Foundation Stage, more able pupils and KS2. She was a literacy consultant within a Local Authority, focusing on Early Years, Phonics and Primary Literacy. In 2020, Charlotte joined the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy as a member of the Practitioner Advisory Board. In 2022, Charlotte was awarded the Anna Craft Creativities in Education Prize by BERA. In 2024, The Balancing Act: An Evidence-Based Approach to Teaching Phonics, Reading and Writing, was released co-written by Charlotte with Professor Dominic Wyse from UCL.
Maria Arnold
Maria Arnold is Assistant Head and Oracy Lead at Southfields Primary School in Peterborough. With experience leading across a range of primary school subjects, Maria has led Oracy for over three years, developing practice at her current school and becoming an accredited Voice 21 Centre of Excellence. Since then, Maria has supported schools in the East of England by hosting Oracy Open mornings with Voice 21 and provided guidance to teachers looking to implement oracy in their schools. Throughout her time as Oracy Lead, Maria has worked on various projects and participated in oracy pilots, being part of an initial wave of oracy schools.
