Blog

Index

Archive

A Fresh Chapter for a New Year: Let’s Make 2026 the Year Every Child Becomes a Reader - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 5th Jan 2026

January always feels like a fresh page and here at Roade English Hub it brings an exciting sense of renewed purpose. As schools look ahead to the year, there is a wonderful opportunity to place reading at the heart of everything we do. A new year reminds us that every child deserves the chance to become a confident reader and that with the right support this is something every school can help to achieve. The evidence is overwhelming and deeply motivating.
Read More
From Playground to Parliament What Independent Schools Get Right About Oracy (and How Any School Can) Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 29th Dec 2025

Have you ever noticed how many politicians, business leaders, and media figures seem to have that effortless confidence when they speak? They hold eye contact, make their point clearly, and can charm a room full of people while remembering everyone’s name. Now, it’s not that they were born better speakers (though some might like you to think so). The truth is, many of them were taught how to speak: systematically, purposefully, and confidently, in schools that made oracy (the art of speaking and listening well) a top priority.
Read More
From Scribbles to Sentences. Getting It ‘Write’ with the DfE Writing Framework - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 1st Dec 2025

Top 4 Takeaways from The Writing Framework. The new DfE Writing Framework is full of useful detail, but in case you snowed under I wanted to bring you my top 4 takeaways. The good news is that these four key ideas do most of the heavy lifting. If schools really get these four right, they’ll feel the biggest difference in children’s writing.
Read More
Talk Strategies in the Classroom - Janet Thompson (Literacy Specialist) - 7th Nov 2025

Talk really matters! It’s not just a background hum in the classroom, it’s the heartbeat of learning, connection, and wellbeing. Through talk, children make sense of new ideas, build relationships, and develop the confidence to share their thinking. Purposeful classroom talk boosts vocabulary, strengthens reading and writing, deepens understanding, and encourages collaboration.
Read More
Reading Just Right: The Goldilocks Guide to Fluency - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 13th Oct 2025

When it comes to reading fluency, speed alone isn’t the answer. Think of Goldilocks in the bear’s cottage: some porridge is too hot, some too cold, and only one is just right. The same applies to reading. Too fast, and children may rush past understanding; too slow, and they lose the rhythm and meaning of the text.
Read More
Phonics First: Building Strong Readers, One Sound at a Time - Charlotte Lamb (Literacy Specialist) - 6th Oct 2025

As educators, we know that teaching a child to read is one of the most powerful things we can do. It’s a gift that changes everything, not just for their academic journey, but for their overall confidence and their future too. This said, reading doesn’t just happen. It’s built on a foundation, and for most children, that foundation starts with phonics.
Read More
Strong Starts - Hayley Pyrah (Hub Lead) - 15th Sep 2025

As we have now entered the ‘ber’ months, I have started noticing the cooler mornings, shorter days and the browning leaves. Along with these seasonal shifts, we also welcome in a new academic year. I always find that September makes me more reflective, and oddly more energised for ‘New Year’s Resolutions’, than January ever does. One thought that keeps coming back to me this year is the importance of simply starting.
Read More
Why Professional Development for Teachers Matters More Than Ever - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 19th Aug 2025

At Roade English Hub, we believe that when teachers thrive, pupils thrive. One of the most powerful ways schools can improve outcomes for children is by investing in high-quality professional development (CPD) for staff. And the research really backs this up. What the research says Fletcher-Wood and Succolo (2020) carried out a wide-ranging review of professional development and found that, when done well, it has a greater and more sustained impact on pupil learning than other popular strategies.
Read More
“I Know My Alphabet” Hayley Pyrah (Hub Lead) - 11th Aug 2025

Recently, I was flicking through a lovely book in the school library about a bear wanting to learn to read. As I continued to read on, I felt a buzz of excitement- this could be another perfect book to share with the hub team, teachers and reading leaders, a way to inspire and support our ongoing work with early readers. That is… until they started teaching the bear to read by learning the alphabet! It is often a common and understandable misconception that we learn to read by first learning the letters of the alphabet.
Read More
Fluency: Practical Strategies Without the Price Tag - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 14th Jul 2025

Reading fluency is the ability to read with accuracy, appropriate speed, and expression. A fluent reader doesn’t just decode words correctly, they read smoothly and with understanding. Research consistently shows that fluency is a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. If a child struggles to decode words, their mental energy is spent on sounding out instead of understanding what they read (National Reading Panel, 2000).
Read More

1 2 3 4 Next