News

Featured

Creativity in the Early Years conference

Professor Tina Bruce, CBE

Professor Tina Bruce launched a ‘Creativity in the early years’ conference at CLPE on 12th June with a keynote speech which demonstrated that all children can be creative. She argued that the role of adults is to provide circumstances that are nurturing rather than ‘driving children into the commonplace and depriving them of doing things which are beautiful and original.’ She encouraged teachers to learn from children and to let them lead in their learning. A choice of practical workshops included: a child-led project to transform play outdoors, the work of the Southwark PPEL project with parents, an exploration of ways to make the environment more creatively enabling, and practical examples of creative problem-solving within Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy in the Foundation Stage.

The conference closed with an inspiring presentation from Linda Sullivan, Headteacher of the Dale Community School, Derby, and Pat Geary, Headteacher of Stonehill Nursery School, Derby. They showed the ways in which they were translating the ‘slow pedagogy’ of the Italian nursery schools of Pistoia into the practice of their own schools and in doing so, transforming learning.

As one participant commented: ‘I have loved today. I feel really inspired again.’

Jane Bunting

For details of CLPE’s new Foundations of Talk and Literacy Project click here

Empowering Parents

Throughout this year, CLPE have been working with parents on an exciting project to develop children’s early language. Now, with four separate courses coming to an end, we are thrilled at the positive impact they have had. “I feel like the clock hands have turned back for me and my children... This is like a reawakening for me, of what being a child should be like.” Faith, a parent on a PPEL course.

Funded by Southwark LA as part of the Parents as Partners in Early Learning (PPEL) programme, the ten week courses are designed for bilingual families where the parents are at an early stage of language acquisition. During each session parents meet together, are introduced to a wonderful range of children’s books and begin to share activities to encourage and support interaction with their children. Meanwhile, the children are cared for in a crèche.

Each course has boosted confidence, helped to form friendships and developed family interactions. Responses from parents include Fahia who says, “The course has given me the confidence to talk to other parents in the library. It has helped me to speak English and make new friends.” While Faith adds, “Here you are encouraged to be who you are and I feel happy inside now that we doing things together”.

These comments show the importance of these first interactions with other parents, especially for those who may previously have had very little opportunity to meet others. As the course progresses, the activities themselves assume greater significance. Parents attending love what they learn and, in particular, they enjoy taking their learning home and sharing it with their families, sometimes even using it as a way of getting dads involved in reading. ‘It has given me lots of ideas to try at home,’ said Rozina. ‘We learn them in English here and I translate them at home into my language. If I didn’t have this course I wouldn’t know what to do.’

So why has it been so successful? Key ingredients include: an active recruitment drive by a dedicated outreach worker who helps parents with the crucial first step of meeting other parents; an attractive course centre; excellent resources for the courses and the peace of mind of knowing children are well-looked after in a crèche.

With this supportive background in place, success comes also from the high quality of the sessions which, while being enjoyable, creative and interactive, also give parents the skills to try out ideas for themselves in ways that make it easy for them to take them home and try them with their children, in their own language and in their own time.

The result is a course that is empowering for parents and their families.

Lauren Price, CLPE

Power of Reading Research Conference

Research findings from the CLPE Power of Reading Project 2005-09 were presented to a CLPE conference by Olivia O’Sullivan and Sue McGonigle on 22 April 2009. The research is based on interviews, case studies and data collection from the first four years of the project which now involves nearly 900 teachers, 650 schools and over 23,000 children. Inclusion for all children – together with raised expectations from teachers - is a theme arising from the research. Kathy Maclean, Head of Minority Achievement for Wandsworth Local Authority stressed the key role of the Power of Reading for raising achievement within the LA which has significant proportions of children with EAL. Joan Stark, Senior School Improvement Officer (English) for Cumbria LA, praised the inspirational effect of the POR project on teaching and learning, as well as the effect on standards, particularly in areas of social need. Cumbria is now beginning its fourth year of involvement in the project. Rebecca Lerman, Year 6 teacher from Crampton Primary School, Southwark showed some of the amazing work done by her class based on POR texts such as Wolf Brother (Michelle Paver). Olivia O’Sullivan Schools and Local Authorities are currently signing up for 2009-10. For further information click here. To download the research summary click here.

Green shoots nurtured by families at CLPE

Our 'How Does Your Garden Grow?' event on 29th May was considered a fabulous learning day by everyone - from babies to teenagers and adults. The activities demonstrated how easy it is to grow food and have fun in the garden without spending a fortune. They included planting a potato in a plastic carrier bag, growing a packed lunch, painting with fruit and vegetables, decorating pebbles, looking at insects and making a sand garden.

Kalid commented, “I learned a lot about potatoes and how to grow cress. You have been a great help to me.”

Rosie said, “Absolutely fantastic. I think your ideas are brill. Well done.”

And Jordan went off the scale: “U R the best. It is impossible to get any better.”

The feedback was so good that we have decided to run the whole day again on Thursday 23rd July, so that we can give even more families the chance to have fun and learn together. To find out more, please get in touch with Clio Whittaker, Family Learning Coordinator, clio@clpe.co.uk

Tel: 07918759 788 or 020 7902 2297.

Poetry Right Now!

CLPE’s Poetry Right Now! with Michael Rosen has provided teachers with a year long opportunity to develop their poetry teaching. In their end of year presentations teachers shared the poetry journeys they have taken with their classes over the year with Michael Rosen. Freedom was a leitmotif which ran through all the contributions: the new found freedom of teachers who now feel sufficiently confident to make independent choices in how they teach poetry and freedom for children, especially the less experienced readers and writers, to find their poetic voices.

“My opinion of teaching poetry has been drastically transformed. I have regained the passion I had for poetry and am more able to take risks in my teaching.”

“I feel excited, energised and much more willing to experiment.”

(Teachers’ comments)

Jenny Vernon

The project will be running again next year at CLPE with Michael Rosen. For more information click here.

CLPE’s Multicultural Book Fair 2009

For teachers, early years practitioners, parents, librarians and students Wednesday 30th September 2009 Noon – 6.30pm Guest author: Malorie Blackman Stalls and displays by booksellers and publishers Events and authors Programme includes: Creating an audio story CD, demonstration of TalkingPEN (Mantra Lingua), Hill Mead Primary School gospel choir, Malorie Blackman talk and book signing. For more information click here

Siobhan Dowd

Siobhan Dowd was posthumously awarded the CILIP Carnegie Medal for Bog Child at a ceremony last month. Siobhan Dowd is also the author of The London Eye Mystery, one of the books featured in the Power of Reading project, which has been especially enjoyed by St George’s School, Wandsworth.

		Children from St Georges School, Wandsworth involved in the Power of Reading working with The London Eye Mystery

In this edition

1. CLPE Poetry Award 2009
2. Creativity Conference
3. Empowering parents
4. Power of Reading Conference
5. Green Shoots
6. Poetry right now
7. CLPE’s Multicultural Bookfair
8. Siobhan Dowd wins Carnegie
9. CLPE Courses 2009-10

About CLPE

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education is an educational centre for schools and teachers, parents, teaching assistants and other educators. CLPE has a national and international reputation for its work in the fields of language, literacy and assessment.

Contact us

info@clpe.co.uk
http://www.clpe.co.uk

CLPE
Webber St, London, SE1 8QW

020 7401 3382/3

5 minutes from Waterloo mainline and tube stations, and from Southwark tube (Jubilee Line)