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Jo Beer is a Senior Lecturer in Primary English and Religious Education with over thirty years’ experience across primary education, teacher education, curriculum development, mentoring, consultancy, governance and professional learning.Her work is rooted in a passion for language, literacy and communication, supporting teachers to develop confident, reflective and research-informed practice. She teaches Primary English across undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education programmes, with particular interests in early reading, phonics, writing, storytelling and children’s literature. Alongside this, she teaches Religious Education, Professional Studies and Arts in Education, bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to learning, creativity and meaning-making in the primary classroom.Before joining higher education, Jo spent nearly twenty years teaching in primary schools, holding leadership responsibilities across Early Years and Key Stage 1, as well as English-related areas including assessment, curriculum development and subject leadership. This extensive classroom experience continues to inform her university teaching, partnership work and professional development programmes.Jo’s research and professional interests focus on primary English, literacy development, teacher presence and professional identity. She is particularly interested in how stories, language and literature support children’s learning, and how teachers develop the confidence, authenticity and subject knowledge needed to create engaging and inclusive classroom environments.Alongside her academic role, Jo contributes to governance, quality assurance and educational leadership through external examining, trusteeship and school governance. She is an active member of professional organisations including UKLA, the English Association, NATRE and AREIAC, and is committed to connecting subject expertise with thoughtful, evidence-informed classroom practice.

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Wendy has a wealth of experience in education having worked as a Secondary school leader, Senior LA Adviser and 6 years as an Ofsted Inspector. She is the Lead UK trainer for Professor John Hattie's Visible Learning programme with Osiris Educational and Corwin, working with schools nationally and internationally. She also provides bespoke training and SIP consultancy working extensively with Head teachers as a School Improvement Partner, training teachers, leaders and ECTs in all phases across the UK and in Europe. Wendy is passionate about supporting all teachers to make a difference in their classrooms and for their learners.

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English adviser committed to developing people and solving real problems that shape strong schools.

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Former teacher and senior leader in primary, secondary and special provision schools in the North East, with a particular track record in significantly reducing and eliminating the attainment gap in schools operating in high deprivation socio-economic contexts.Founder and Author of DfE England and DoE Western Australia Approved McKie Mastery Power Phonics. Implementing Adaptive Power Teaching in schools nationally, Claire has worked alongside leaders and staff to radically change whole school approaches to pedagogy across the curriculum as well as implementing an Adaptive Power Teaching Infrastructure in English and in Maths. Research published in 2023 found "Exceptional progress across all schools" (Nobari et al 2023). Created a in high deprivation and high SEND classrooms in the North East, the Adaptive Power Toolkits were designed to scaffold learning, behaviour, engagement, oracy reading, writing, spelling and maths mastery for ALL pupils including those who struggle most.SEND Training Partner at SEND Station, Claire delivers online training to teachers and leaders nationally and internationally on Adaptive Teaching Tools designed to best support ALL pupils.Whole School Improvement Partner, Claire has worked nationally with Multi Academy Trusts, mainstream primary, secondary and special provision schools to implement innovative Adaptive Teaching based pedagogy, infrastructure and processes across the curriculum as well as subject-specific changes in English and Maths teaching and learning

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I work extensively with teachers and schools across the UK. Currently this focuses on reading comprehension across the curriculum, creative approaches to grammar teaching and effective classroom talk. I have written extensively about pedagogy and practice in primary literacy teaching. My most recent publications are Teaching Primary English: Subject Knowledge and Classroom Practice (2nd ed.2024 Routledge) with Eve Bearne, Teaching Grammar Effectively in the Primary Classroom ( 2nd Edition, 2020 UKLA) and Talk For Teaching and Learning: the dialogic classroom (2021 UKLA) with Eve Bearne, Guiding Readers: A handbook for teaching reading comprehension to 7-11 year olds (2016 UCL IoE Press) with Wayne Tennent, Nikki Gamble and Angela Hobsbaum and contributions to Teaching English Creatively (2nd Edition, 2015, ed Teresa Cremin). Other publications include, Teaching Grammar Effectively in Key Stage 1 ( 2016 UKLA), with Eve Bearne and Rebecca Kennedy, Guiding Reading - A Handbook for Teaching Guided Reading in KS2 (Institute of Education, with Angela Hobsbaum and Nikki Gamble) and Developing Writing For Different Purposes-Teaching About Genre In The Early Years (Paul Chapman, with Jeni Riley).I am former General Secretary and Past President of the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) and was a Co-Director of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust (CPRT) from 2013 – 17. Until 2014 I was Principal Adviser for primary schools in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

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Leah had 15 years experience as a Local Authority English Inspector/Adviser, working across the primary and secondary phases before becoming an independent consultant. In her school career, she held pastoral and subject leader roles. She now leads Thinktalk consultancy, is a Tutor for the King’s College Let’s Think in English Cognitive Acceleration programme and is a consultant and writer for Bob Cox’s Opening Doors publications and consultancy. She has completed a Masters in Education Degree on teacher learning and development and has supported a European Erasmus project on the Assessment of Thinking Skills. Leah has led extended professional learning courses through Teaching Schools and MATS on Mastery of Reading at primary, Writing Design and Process, Grammar for Purpose and Viewpoint, and Word Study – combining the teaching of spelling and vocabulary. She is delivering the new NPQ in Leading Literacy through the University of Winchester.

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A senior leader at Ark Victoria Academy in Birmingham with responsibility for English, all-through literacy, reading, and curriculum development. I have extensive experience in improving reading and writing outcomes, leading whole-school literacy strategies, and supporting teachers to deliver high-quality English provision. In addition to my school-based leadership role, I currently serve as Network Lead for Primary English across Ark Schools, where I work with English leads and senior trust leaders to strengthen curriculum design, reading development, assessment, and professional learning. For the past 18 months, I have led RISE support linked to English priorities in Primary and All-Through settings across England. I am passionate about evidence-informed practice, educational equity, and ensuring that every child develops a lifelong love of reading.

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Supporting reading, writing, oracy and School Improvement, across the English curriculum.

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