Gill Matthews' News

Literacy and Creativity in the Year of Reading

Gill is organising a conference in Sandwell LEA called Literacy and Creativity in the Year of Reading. It will take place on 30 June 2008. Key note speakers include Allan Ahlberg, Sue Hackman, Michaela Morgan, and Bill Laar. There will also be a conference bookshop stocking all the books mentioned by conference speakers. For more information, you can download the conference programme.

S.P.O.O.C.S

Gill’s latest writing venture is S.P.O.O.C.S, an innovative KS2 English SATs revision unit, which she has developed with Sylvia Karavis. Gill and Sylvia have written together for over 10 years and are very excited about their latest project.

“We hold the firm belief that offering children a range of writing activities within a lively, interesting context not only supports their writing development but also enthuses them as writers. S.P.O.O.C.S gives children opportunities to write for real purposes and real audiences. All too often we have come across Y6 children, and teachers, who are preparing for SATs by trawling through past papers. This doesn’t motivate or excite them, let alone ready them for the challenge of SATs.” For more information, download a copy of the S.P.O.O.C.S flyer.

S.P.O.O.C.S is currently being used by 11 schools in Sandwell, in the West Midlands, to support over 400 pupils in preparing for the 2008 KS2 SATs. Sylvia will be running a S.P.O.O.C.S workshop at the Literacy and Creativity in the Year of Reading Conference in Sandwell on 30 June 2008. For more information on the conference, you can download the conference programme.

Find out more about S.P.O.O.C.S in the Publications and Products section of this site.

The Traveller's Trunk nominated for 2008 ERA

One of Gill's newest resources, The Traveller's Trunk, was nominated for the 2008 Educational Resources Award for Best Primary Resource or Equipment – Non ICT. The resource, designed to help in the teaching of non-fiction writing, is published by Philip & Tacey. Find out more about The Traveller's Trunk.

New publications

Gill has been working on several new publications published recently. Infoticons is a visual prompt for organising non-fiction writing. Find out more about Infoticons. Talk to Me is a talking photo album to help develop talking through storytelling. Find out more about Talk to Me. Multimodal Texts is a series of digital texts for on-screen literacy lessons published by Scholastic – Gill has contributed to the Year 6 title. Find out more about Multimodal Texts.

Conference in the United Arab Emirates

Gill was in Dubai in November to speak at a conference about the Renewed Framework.

Gill appointed visiting lecturer at the University of Manchester

Gill has been appointed visiting lecturer on the PGCE English course at the University of Manchester.

Primary National Strategy

Gill has been appointed Regional Adviser for Literacy with the Primary National Strategy in the West Midlands.

Sentifix – Educational Resources Awards finalist!

Sentifix was a finalist in the Special Educational Needs category of the 2006 Educational Resources Awards. The Awards focus on the resources, services and people that make a real impact on learning and the day-to-day work of the teachers in the classroom. For more information on the product, visit Sentifix.

Rigby Dimensions shortlisted for a BETT Award

The Rigby Dimensions CD-ROM was shortlisted for the 2006 English Key Stages 1 and 2 BETT Award. The Awards recognise innovative and effective ICT education resources. The CD-ROM is part of Rigby Dimensions, the Key Stage 2 thematic curriculum-based literacy programme published by Rigby in Summer 2005. The CD-ROM offers ‘virtual experiences’ to kick-start themes and engage children in the learning process.

Back to school ...

Gill is studying for an M.A. through research at the University of Gloucestershire. The research considers the implementation of a thematic curriculum in primary schools. She's undertaking the research alongside her literacy consultancy and writing work. If your school is following a thematic curriculum, Gill would be very interested to hear from you.

Impacts of a thematic curriculum

Gill has completed research into the impact of the thematic curriculum in Wednesbury Learning Community. She reported her initial findings at their conference on thematic curricula on 31 March 2006. Her article can be downloaded at the Noticeboard.