The following trainings and networks are for teachers in Primary One and others interested in Emerging Literacy as an intervention within Highland Council.

To access the codes for the following trainings and networks, please sign up through the CPD calendar.

Emerging Literacy Training Session 1

16^th June 2022    15:45 – 17:00

In session one we will look at Oral Language and Phonological Awareness

Emerging Literacy Training Session 2

23^rd June 2022    15:45 – 17:00

In session two we will look at Concepts of Print and Pre-handwriting Skills

These two sessions will be repeated on:

Session 1 – 25^th August 2022 – 15:45 to 17:00

Session 2 – 1^st September 2022 – 15:45 to 17:00

Emerging Literacy Support Network 1 – Term 1  

Thursday 15^th Sept 2022              15:45 – 16:45

Network One will provide the opportunity to ask questions and share best practice around the Phonalogical Awareness Screener and to tour through what is in the Emerging Literacy Share Point Site

Emerging Literacy Support Network 2 – Term 2  

Thursday 15^th December 2022      15:45 – 16:45

Network Two will provide the opportunity to ask questions and share best practice around Concepts of Print/Reading

Emerging Literacy Support Network 3 – Term 3  

Thursday 16^th March 2023              15:45 – 16:45

Network Three will provide the opportunity to ask questions and share best practice around Progression/Writing

Emerging Literacy Support Network 4 – Term 4  

Thursday 1^st June 2023              15:45 – 16:45

Network Four will provide the opportunity to ask questions and share best practice around Transition and Achievement of a Level.

Resources and further information are available on the Scottish Book Trust website.

For more information and resources for the Primary Two Bags, click here.

For more information and resources for the Primary Three Bags, click here. 

Literacy Training Sessions

Over the next two terms, we will be running weekly training sessions on areas of literacy for Highland Council staff.  These sessions will include;

• Wraparound Spelling
• Morphological Spelling
• Assessing spelling and planning for change
• Phonics from the beginning and as an intervention
• Organising the learning and teaching of reading
• Assessing reading and planning for change
• Planning for change in writing
• Developing independence in writing
• The use of benchmarks across the curriculum

There is no need to register for these training sessions through the CPD calendar.  To access the training, copy and paste the link given into your chrome browser.  No register will be taken, so you must record this in your own CPD log.  A google form will be sent out a couple of weeks after training to assess the impact training and how we can support you further.

To access the full information, click here.

Every year we put together a reading challenge to encourage children to read.

This year’s challenge is the Book Badge Collection.

There are eight book badges to be earned:

• The Night Owl
• The Early Bird
• The Weekend Warrior
• The Professor
• The Bite-sized Bookworm
• The Marathon
• Librarian
• The Seven-day Stretch

Every time that a child fulfils the requirements of a badge, they get a badge to stick onto their record sheet. Each well-earned badge can be celebrated with a certificate.

To download the challenge, click here.

To see the previous challenges go to:

The Genre Pizza

Around the World in Eighty Days   Passport

Challenge 20/20

Dear Colleagues,

The Talk for Writing trainer will be conducting training on the inset days on the 13^th and 14^th of September.

This training is for Highland Council staff only.

On the 13^th of September, she will be working with teachers who would like to receive initial training or a refresher session in the Talk for Writing process.

On the 14^th of September, she will be working with teachers who have already started using the Talk for Writing process and would like to deepen their understanding.

There will be a cost of around £35 per person, but this will depend on how many people attend.  Please ask your line manager for permission before applying for this course through Highland Council’s CPD page.

It would be helpful to have all applications registered by next week.

The code and resources will be sent out prior to training to all those who have registered.

We have the Talk for Writing Training coming to work with us again next session.

She will be with us on:

13^th September – Introduction (and recap) of fiction

14^th September – Digging deeper with fiction – for people already working with Talk for Writing who want to learn more.

23^rd February – Introduction (and recap) of non-fiction.

The trainings will now be on CPD.  You will need to ask your Head Teacher for permission to attend as there will be a cost per person.

Wednesday 23^rd June, 4-5pm

Emerging Literacy is Highland Council’s developmentally appropriate approach to literacy in P1 and beyond.

P1 teachers are supported through networks through the year to implement differentiated teaching and learning in literacy.

This hour-long course is to help teachers new to the approach, or who want to refresh their knowledge, to get started in August.  It will cover the model behind the approach, and how it is put into practice in phonological awareness, phonics and pre-handwriting learning.

Attendees will find it useful to have watched the short film at Emerging Literacy: Training Video 1 – Theory – YouTube

The training will be on Google Meet and can be accessed at https://meet.google.com/kbg-qrqh-zuy

Any questions welcome to James McTaggart, Early Years Educational Psychologist

Are you interested in learning more about the new PM Benchmark Literacy Assessment 2?  Julian Duncan a trainer for PM Benchmark will run training on the 15th and 18th of March 2021.

The training is suitable for School Managers, ASN teachers and class teachers.

It equips teachers with accurate and robust assessment tools to identify students’ instructional or independent reading levels. The resource offers a complete literacy assessment, allowing teachers to conduct reading records to effectively capture students’ progress in reading fluency, retelling abilities and comprehension within and beyond the text.

When                      Monday 15^th March at 15:30 to 16:30

                               Thursday 18^th March at 15:30 to 16:30

To access the training link, please sign in through CPD.

https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning-and-resources/clpl-for-learning-professionals

Dyslexia Awareness Week in Scotland will be on 2 – 7 November 2020

Dyslexia Awareness Week this year is all about ‘Unlocking Potential’.  To tie in with coming out of lockdown, the title reflects all the amazing and sometimes unexpected ways that children and adults have adapted to our ‘new normal’, not to mention parents, teachers and others.  It’s not been easy but we have been struck by the resilience shown by so many.

Some ways to support Dyslexia Awareness Week

• Display a poster about Dyslexia Awareness Week.
• Take part in our online events in the run up to, during and after the week.
• Share our Twitter and Facebook posts during the week, using #DAWScot20 – and join us on Instagram and YouTube.
• Use our children’s presentation  or general presentation to raise awareness in your school, workplace or community. 
• If you’re a teacher, sign up to the 3 free online Modules on the Online Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit.
• Have a look at Dyslexia Unwrapped, our website for 8 – 18 year olds.  
• Check out our leaflets for children, parents, adults and employers.
• Join Dyslexia Scotland and be part of a growing membership across Scotland – you can join or renew online.

Dyslexia Awareness Week

For those of you who would like an interesting, informative and thought-provoking read, please click the link below.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/sep/17/battle-over-dyslexia-warwickshire-staffordshire