Last chance to get your ‘Early Bird’ ticket for our conference

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It’s your last chance to take advantage of the ‘Early Bird’ rate of just £85 on tickets for our forthcoming literacy conference as the offer ends at midnight tomorrow, the 31st of March. The theme of the conference this year is ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ and the event is being held at Bradford City Football Stadium on Thursday the 29th of June from 9am to 3.30pm.

We’re delighted to have a wonderful line-up of speakers who will each share their own perspectives on how to close the literacy gap and help children from all backgrounds to achieve their potential:

• Matt Bromley, an educational consultant and writer, will share a range of proven strategies for ‘Closing the Literacy Gap’ so that disadvantaged pupils will progress at the same rate as their non-disadvantaged peers
• Deborah Bullivant, the director of Grimm and Co apothecary to the magical, will talk about her experience of engaging and motivating children and developing their literacy skills through imagination in one of the most deprived parts of Yorkshire
• Rachel Van Riel, director of Opening the Book, will speak about Making space for reading – how to improve your physical environment to increase reader engagement
• Dr Paula Clarke, from The University of Leeds, will explore Shifting the lens from decoding to language comprehension: Evidence based methods to support pupils understanding of text
• Andy Seed, an award-winning author, will discuss The power of author inspiration
• Reading Matters together with school partners will look at the use of peer mentors to raise attainment and aspirations

The conference is aimed at senior leaders, teachers, TAs, literacy advisors, librarians and all types of literacy educators from across the key stages. Delegates will also enjoy a choice of interactive workshops, exhibition stands and lots of opportunities for professional networking during the day.

Don’t miss out on what promises to be an inspiring and insightful day! To grab your ticket at the ‘Early Bird’ rate of £85 book here now. Please note that tickets will be priced at £100 from the 1st of April.

Spotlight on a speaker: Dr Paula Clarke

Over the last couple of months we have been focusing on each of the conference speakers, looking in more depth at their specialisms and the expertise that they will bring to our conference on June the 29th. Dr Paula Clarke is a research psychologist working in the field of education. Over the past 15 years Paula has contributed to a range of studies investigating the characteristics and causes of reading comprehension difficulties. Most recently she has led evaluations of teaching assistant delivered interventions to support pupils with weak reading skills in primary and secondary school. She also has research interests in the reading comprehension skills of special needs pupils. Paula is a co-author of a standardised reading test and is the lead author of the book ‘Developing Reading Comprehension’.

Paula’s presentation is entitled ‘Shifting the lens from decoding to language comprehension: Evidence based methods to support pupils understanding of text’. To successfully read is to read with meaning. In her talk Paula will explore relevant theories of comprehension processes to illustrate the skills involved in meaning making. Evidence-based strategies will be outlined including those suitable for working one to one or with small groups. The material covered will be relevant to those working with primary and secondary pupils and with pupils with special educational needs.

Local PR company helps to spread the word

We would like to extend a big “thank you” to Approach PR Ilkley, who have donated 16 hours of time to assist Reading Matters with public relations. The pro bono support is part of a CSR initiative by the company to celebrate their 16th anniversary. The company will be concentrating their efforts on raising awareness about the forthcoming literacy conference which will bring together experts from the sphere of young people’s literacy development in an inspiring day of Continued Professional Development in Bradford.

If you are interested to find out more about volunteering your skills to help Reading Matters then please get in touch.

Happy Reading!

From all the team at Reading Matters

The post Conference ‘Early Bird’ ends 31.03.17|Spotlight on a speaker|Approach PR help to spread the word appeared first on Reading Matters.