Live Courses

A half-day online course to map extended writing opportunities

Estyn stresses the need for teachers to plan opportunities for authentic, independent extended writing across the curriculum.

Estyn notes: Overall, pupils do not have regular opportunities to write independently, particularly when writing in other areas of the curriculum.

This course helps you to plan for effective extended writing.

It will:

• Look at a model for planning extended writing in PS2 and PS3
• Explore how to map writing across the AoLEs and consider effective task setting
• Investigate ways to help pupils to retrieve and use information in their own writing.

The course will enable you to give your pupils meaningful opportunities to apply skills learnt in
literacy in authentic ways.

‘Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a term originally developed by the British psychologist Elisabeth Newson in the 1980s and first used in a published research paper by Newson in 2003. It was used to describe a group of children who did not fit into the stereotypical presentation of autism recognised at that time but who shared certain characteristics with each other, the key one being a persistent and marked resistance to demands’.
https://www.autism.org.uk/

‘Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a condition that is commonly seen in up to 50% of children and young people with ADHD’.
‘Sometimes it’s difficult to recognise the difference between a strong-willed or emotional child and one with ODD’.
Essex Partnership University NHS

Have you been faced with a pupil who seems to react negatively to your requests? Have you felt out of your depth? Would you like to develop your knowledge and understanding of ‘demand avoidance’ in order to recognise the difference between a strong-willed child and a child with ‘Demand avoidance’ patterns of behaviour?

At the time of writing there are over 500,000 teacher support staff in the UK education system with approximately 31,000 of these being registered with the Education Workforce Council (EWC) in Wales and approximately 18,000 of these working in primary schools in Wales where they are now a larger section of the workforce than teaching staff (Department for Education, 2018; Education Workforce Council, 2017).
Research into the deployment of primary school support staff in Wales 11/07/19

As you can see above, it is vital that use these members of staff are used effectively.

This course will look at good practice in the mainstream classroom. You will learn about various strategies and ways to effectively use your staff to support children with ALN.

A half-day online course to reboot the teaching of reading comprehension

Rich and satisfying learning takes place when we support pupils to become confident speakers who are able to articulate their ideas and offer opinions clearly. Talk embeds ideas and strengthens understanding of topics. It is therefore important to have a detailed, well planned whole school strategy to foster high quality discussion and purposeful collaboration.

We will:

• Consider how to use warm up exercises to provide speaking and listening practice.
• Explore strategies that can be used across the school and across the curriculum to allow pupils to explore an idea.
• Think about how we can use oracy to develop pupils’ thinking.
• Look at how to kickstart an oracy project.

Make talk work in your school to raise standards and increase engagement.

A half-day online course to make shared reading a key part of a school’s scheme of work.
Shared reading is an essential strategy in each teacher’s literacy toolkit. During shared reading pupils practise increasingly complex skills in a supportive and engaging environment.
This course shows how shared reading changes as pupils grow and mature.

It will:

• Explore how shared reading flexes and changes as pupils mature and look at models for teaching in PS1, PS2 and PS3.
• Examine the skills we need to teach pupils in each Progression Step and study a sample scheme of work.
• Look at ways to involve pupils in shared reading.
• Consider what goes into a shared reading toolkit.

Delegates will receive a sample scheme of work and resources to build a shared reading toolkit.

The ALN reform act (Wales) has placed statutory obligations on schools to decide if a pupil has ALN or not. How confident are you in meeting the needs of all learners in your class?
This course will look at good practice in the mainstream classroom. You will learn about various strategies and ways to attune to your pupil’s needs. You will have the opportunity to access observations made by specialist teaching. These will be presented as examples for
you to take back to school and support pupils who may be struggling or identified as having ALN.

‘Drama’ Strategies are great teaching tools that could be part of every teacher’s toolbox.  They help make teaching and learning more active, interactive, inclusive, engaging, enjoyable and memorable.  In this session you will learn how to set up at least ten ‘drama’ strategies and will be given some cross-curricular examples of their use.  The various configurations and protocols for each strategy will be explained, as well as ways of adapting and sequencing them, to extend and deepen learning.

This online session is based on the presenter’s most recent book, ‘40+ ‘Drama’ Strategies to Deepen Whole Class Learning,’ (Routledge, April 2024).

The Additional Learning Needs transformation programme came into practice on the 1st of September 2021. The idea was to create a unified approach for young people from the age of 0-25.
An important part of this system is accurate and relevant assessment of Additional Learning Needs of pupils already identified as needing extra support. It is also important to develop screening systems within the mainstream setting in order to recognise needs in pupils that
might not be presenting their additional learning needs in an obvious way in class.
We will explore different Assessments and ensure that practitioners have a plethora of tools to assist in ascertaining the needs of all pupils.

Current research across local authorities in Wales, suggests that employing Nurturing practices for well-being can result in reduced exclusions.
Do you have a Nurture Group/Class? Are you looking for guidance and support? Are you looking for ideas for planning for well being/Nurturing principles?…

This course aims to provide Nurturing activities and ideas to support classroom practitioners with classroom management of pupils with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.

This full-day practical course will cover the coding aspect of the Science & Technology AoLE (WM6).

The morning session will focus on coding progression from PS1 to PS3, focusing on Bee-Bot, turtle on-screen, LOGO, BBC micro:bit and Scratch.

The afternoon session will focus on an introduction to ‘robotics’ using the Artec Robo ‘Early Education Kit’ to build and control a physical device (PS2) and to code (PS3) Each delegate will receive the kit to take back to their school. 

https://www.collectivelearning.co.uk/product/artecrobo-early-education-set-y3-y6/

A half-day online course to maximise the impact of guided reading lessons.
Do you want to revisit guided reading to make it a more effective part of your reading policy?
This course will help you to refresh these sessions with new activities and tools to engage pupils and explore ways to make planning easier for teachers.
We will:

• Examine the structure of a guided reading lesson and consider how to focus on a learning intention
• Look at ways to begin a session with an energetic starter to enhance pupils’ vocabulary banks and help them to understand how language works.
• Consider how to include stopping points to promote discussion about a text’s features
• Explore tools and activities that will help pupils to investigate text

With a new toolkit, you can strengthen your school’s guided reading programme.

According to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists…
‘There are fewer Speech and Language Therapists per head of population in Wales than any other part of the UK, as reflected in our membership data’.

https://www.rcslt.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/RCSLT-Wales-paper-ahead-of-the-HEIW-Education-and-Training-Plan.pdf

This has had a huge impact on waiting times and access to support for pupils presenting with various speech and language difficulties across Wales. What can we do to support these pupils while they are waiting to be seen?
Whether you have some knowledge of speech and language difficulties or absolutely none this course is for you.

A half-day online course to refresh the teaching of writing in WM4

Schools are charged with developing pupils’ creativity in WM4 (Literature Fires the
Imagination) as pupils create their own literature.

Story writing allows pupils to explore ideas; expand their imaginations and express their
unique view of the world. Opportunities to compose stories help children to grow.

This course will:

• Explore ways to use fiction texts to stimulate pupils’ imaginations
• Investigate ways to help pupils to plan narratives
• Consider how to help pupils to describe character and setting
• Think about the tips we can give pupils to write with flair and inventiveness.

With focus we can help pupils to enjoy writing stories.

With the Welsh Government setting up a National task force on Attendance it is safe to assume a drive to improve School Attendance figures will follow suit.
Let’s be prepared…

This course will look at good practice for supporting pupils with Anxiety.  You will learn about various strategies and ways to support your pupil’s needs. You will deepen your knowledge of anxiety and anxiety based disorders. You will be signposted to relevant support and have
access to coaching and guidance moving forwards.

This course explains how teachers can use whole class Drama to stimulate and practically support children, as individual and collaborative talkers and writers. It outlines how teachers can co-participate, as models, co-writers, editors and commissioners of writing at different stages of the writing process.  Drama provides meaningful contexts, reasons and audiences for writing, as well as generating shared experiences and meaningful content.  Some key Drama strategies will be presented as ‘Thought and Talk’ frames and links made between certain Drama strategies, different types of talk, and specific types of writing. A primary drama lesson will be presented, (a step at a time) and ways in which it is specifically supporting and leading children into writing, will be highlighted.  

• 2 ‘Drama for Writing’ lessons
• The edited Powerpoint (as a PDF)
• 2 published articles
• A booklet of Drama Strategies

From the moment we are born to the final days of our lives, touch acts as a central aspect of
the human experience — impacting our physical, mental and emotional health, and quite
literally shaping the way we go through our lives.

• Newborns that are given nurturing touch grow faster and have more improved mental
  and motor skill development.
• Children raised with more physical interaction tended to be less aggressive and
  violent.
• Partners who cuddle have been shown to have lower stress levels and blood
  pressure and improved immune function.
• Elderly people who receive the soothing, affirming experience of touch have been
  shown to better handle the process of aging and passing with dignity.

Tony Robbins

https://www.tonyrobbins.com/blog/the-power-of- touch?srsltid=AfmBOopQc66hjk5VYJ95f_qaN2vt67eTqIK6vWj8xTsYH9rFrxZhSFym

‘Over the next two years, £8.8m will be provided to increase school engagement and attendance including £1.5m to provide greater capacity for Family Engagement Officers (FEOs) to support learners with attendance’
https://www.gov.wales/extra-funding-family-engagement-officers-drive-boost-school-attendance
The role of the family Engagement Officer has emerged over the last few years and is now being encouraged by Welsh Assembly Government.
Are you an F.E.O? Or do you want an F.E.O in your School?
Join us for a information packed session of step-by-step ideas and suggestions. Whether you are new to the role or want to review existing policies and practises, this course is for you.

A half-day online course to refresh the teaching of reading.

To become effective readers pupils need to crack the phonic code and learn to make meaning independently. Pupils need explicit teaching to become effective readers and many daily opportunities to practise and apply their skills in live contexts. The 9 Reading Behaviours help pupils to learn what to do as they read. Initially, pupils learn each behaviour one-by-one, and overtime they learn to synthesise the behaviours, choosing the most useful strategies to unlock a text in any given context. Overtime they learn to synthesise the behaviours, choosing the most useful strategies to unlock a text in any given context.

The 9 Reading Behaviours help pupils to solve problems as they read, engage with the text and to reflect on content.

The course provides examples of strategies to teach each behaviour in literacy lessons and across the curriculum.

The Additional Learning Needs transformation programme came into practice on the 1st of September 2021. The idea was to create a unified approach for young people from the age of 0-25.
An important part of this system is providing reasonable adjustments in daily classroom practice, this may be enough to meet the needs of most learners but how do we know?
Many questions still exist around how to track those pupils in the ‘grey ‘ area.
We will explore what to do with those pupils who are facing barriers to learning and look at how to ensure we know if their needs are continuing to be met.

A half-day online course to enhance the teaching of writing.

Pupils’ spelling, punctuation and grammar errors far too frequently make their writing clumsy and hard to read. Their creativity and knowledge can be obscured by weak transcription skills.

This course will consider techniques to help you and your pupils to focus on accuracy in writing.

We will:

• Explore ways to help pupils to learn from their spelling errors
• Investigate how to support pupils to edit their work after completing the first draft and before marking
•  Consider what pupils can do after marking to learn from any highlighted errors.

With support and guidance pupils can learn to write with clarity and precision.

‘Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that mainly causes problems with reading,
writing and spelling.

It’s a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing.

It’s estimated up to 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.’

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dyslexia/#:~:text=Dyslexia%20is%20a%20common%20learning,%2C%20intelligence%20isn’t%20affected.

Have you been faced with a pupil with suspected Dyslexia? Are you going to be teaching a pupil with Dyslexia? Did you train on the subject of Dyslexia a while ago and want to refresh your knowledge and understanding? Then this is the course for you!

‘How we process and respond to our experiences affects our Mental Health and Emotional Well-being.’ (Curriculum for Wales – Health and Well-being)

Some pupils will still present with barriers to learning despite the practitioner’s best efforts to engage with them.

Have you tried using therapeutic stories?

This course aims to provide ideas to support classroom practitioners who seek to promote Health and Well-being in pupils with social, emotional and behavioural issues.