Testimonials

Take a look at the impact our sessions have!

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Ann’s research into children’s literature has changed how we select books and discuss them with the children at our school. In turn we have seen in the children a more active, questioning and positive relationship with books. We consulted Ann on spending a book budget of £15,000 to ensure we chose books that would make a difference to learners’ understanding of the wider world. We have noticed a tangible difference in how children respond – we now see children with books under their arms, happy to discuss books, and asking their parents to buy books.
Mount Stuart Primary School, Cardiff

Ann has had a tremendous impact on how staff plan story books into all aspects of the curriculum. Her sessions with staff have engaged and inspired them to explore further how different genres can be used within topics and day-to-day teaching. Ann’s sessions with the pupils have further ignited their passion for literature and inspired them to read more widely.
Marlborough Rd Primary School, Cardiff.

Some observations for teachers after CPD sessions.
*I really enjoyed exploring the different interpretations of illustrations as it can be very easy to overlook this. I now know what to look for in terms of ‘hidden messages’ and stereotypes and I look forward to changing the way we talk about books and pictures in class.

*It has really informed my planning for the classroom especially with how text and pictures relate to each other.

Feedback on Social Media
Scroll down to take a look at some posts and images of the different sessions we have delivered over the last few years.

These Year 6 children produced their own fabulous picture books. Here’s the recipe:
1: Show Year 6 that picture books are STILL for them and that we will all look at them together as ‘adults’.
2:Look together at how they work focusing on the relationships between word and image.
3: Linger over a brilliant range of diverse picture books that cover all kind of subjects.
Leave in the hands of a very capable teaching team, give plenty time, encouragement… after a few weeks, at best, we have our next generation of children’s authors, at worst, readers who are now critically aware of how image and text work together.
A new year group ready to read newspapers, Twitter, Facebook, Magazines and everything else critically #highschoolready!

 

A change is as good as a rest as they say, and once a year, when Year 4 in Marlborough Rd Primary study Egyptians for their topic, I love to go in and show them how Romantic poetry can be for ANYONE!

We look at Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’ and we go from being a ‘bit scared’ on a first read, because we’re not sure what’s going on, to piecing it together as a team – it’s magical to teach.

For more on this take a look in my ‘resources’ tab. I’ve done this lesson with year 4, Year 6, Year 8 and Years 12 and 13. It’s worked every time so far.

Cogan Primary in Penarth are already doing wonderful things with books. This session was about teaching upper KS2 about how picture books actually work. Asking questions about how and why a picture book might be set on in a particular way and what the children think this might say about the power relationships in the books. For more information see Resources ‘How Picture books Work’.

 

 

One of our parent sessions. We spent two weeks in and out of Stoke Bishop Primary, Bristol, talking image and critical literacy with the children and teachers. Then we asked the parents in for a session on reading critically, reading aloud and enjoying books with their children.

 

For Welsh Week I took my Roald Dahl University Research to all classes: Reception to Year 6! What fun we had!

Roald Dahl Assemblies

Brilliant experience for my talented undergraduates. I impart my research on Dahl to them, they design and deliver assemblies. Happy me, happy students, happy and better informed pupils! I love it when a plan comes together.

We went further afield to show the Educational team at Cumberland Lodge, (the house next door to the Queen that is given to the BFG!) Windsor, how to use resources created for them on Roald Dahl.

We love to deliver CPD for teachers/ student teachers and anyone else too!