Teaching in Barking and Dagenham for three decades, I have always held a passion for supporting children to read for pleasure. In 2012, I trained as a Reading Recovery Teacher and in 2017, undertook a master’s degree in Literacy Difficulties and became a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader at Grafton Primary School. I have been working for BDSIP as a Literacy Intervention Lead since 2019 and conduct training for programmes which have proven considerable evidence of impact to improve children and young people’s literacy skills. I am able to work with schools to develop support in programmes such as Reading Recovery; Skills Programme (KS1 & 2); Literacy Skills for Secondary Programme (KS3) and Developing Reading for Pleasure Programme (Foundation stage, KS1,2 and 3)
Previously, I have enjoyed conducting research in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD), on the factors which influence high attaining children, exploring concepts around The Reading Bug – Caught or Taught? Keen to link research to practice, I enjoy working with schools to develop their reading strategies so that pupils can access the curriculum and teacher’s can develop their teaching pf reading.
In 2023 I successfully completed research for the Laurel Trust Charity which has led to the development of the Reading for Pleasure Programme in Key stage 1 and 2 across LBBD. After the successful completion of this piece of research in Primary Schools, the Laurel Trust (in conjunction with LBBD’s Reading Project) has requested me to conduct a piece of research within LBBD Secondary Schools. This study is due to be published in January 2025.
