Take advantage of the CPD opportunities available for the spring term to learn about the latest research and develop your practice. There are courses and webinars covering all aspects of the literacy curriculum for primary and secondary practitioners. Find an event to suit your needs. (Updated 9th January.)

Conferences

• Sign up for HFL’s National Primary Conference on 31st January. The theme for this year is My Voice My Writing: Empowering children to be great writers and there’s a fantastic lineup of speakers ready to share the latest research and practical advice on how to develop a whole school writing curriculum that will help young writers find and develop their voice.
  • Cost: £149 ex VAT per person.
• Join Alex Quigley for an Adaptive Teaching Unleashed masterclass on 23rd February. Delegates can attend the masterclass in-person at a venue in Birmingham or online through live video and interactive slide sharing. The masterclass will explore the pivotal role of adaptive teaching in student achievement and provide practical strategies to help teachers and curriculum leads in primary and secondary schools implement effective adaptive teaching in the classroom.
  • Cost per delegate: £269 + VAT (online) and £279 + VAT (in-person)
• Creating a Positive Learning Environment is the theme for the British Dyslexia Association’s Dyslexia and Dyscalculia Conference on 29th February. The online conference will cover the early signs of dyslexia and dyscalculia and explore appropriate strategies for support, the use of technology and multi-sensory tools, and practical approaches to help children and adolescents develop resilience and self-esteem.
  • Cost: £55 (discounts for members and students available).
• The OU Reading for Pleasure Spring Conference will take place on 16th March at Sneinton C of E Primary School in Nottingham. The theme for the in-person conference is Book Chatter Matters and will explore the key role that informal text talk between readers plays in motivating and sustaining the habit of reading.
  • Cost: £45 per person
• The National Literacy Trust’s Primary Conference will take place in-person on Thursday 21st March at Essex County Hall. This year’s theme is Better Together: Raising achievement through a collaborative approach to literacy. Delegates will hear from a range of academics, practitioners and children’s authors and explore innovative teaching and learning approaches to boost literacy outcomes for all young people.
  • Cost £150 per person (discounts for NLT premium members available).

CPD Courses

Reading and Writing

• Scottish Book Trust is launching a new course in early 2024 designed to develop teacher knowledge of contemporary children’s books and support cross-curricular planning using high-quality texts as stimuli. Book Discovery+ is aimed at teachers and student teachers working with P2, P3 or P4 pupils in Scotland. Register your interest here.
• Put quality children’s books at the heart of all your literacy teaching with one of CLPE’s webinars and in-person courses. Whether you are looking to develop your practice to raise engagement and attainment in reading and writing or need support to meet the needs of specific groups of children, there is a range of webinars and in-person courses to choose from this spring term.
  • Cost: From £30
• Explore a range of teaching approaches and writing opportunities that will improve the quality of Year 2 and Year 6 writing, support young writers to meet the demands of the assessment framework and foster enjoyment in writing in two online courses from HFL. Success for all in Year 6 Writing starts on 15th January and Success for all in Year 2 Writing is on 4th March.
  • Cost: £155 and £77.50 ex VAT
• Join Bob Cox, author of the Opening Doors series, for a twilight session exploring the principles and strategies that enable delivery of a challenging English curriculum that can be accessed and enjoyed by every pupil through Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. Opening Doors to Ambitious English is on 16th January.
  •  Cost: FREE
• Get a head start on your planning for World Book Day with a Preparing for World Book Day webinar on 17th January looking at how to use the new World Book Day resources to plan an impactful day that will support the six elements of reading for pleasure.
  • Cost: FREE
• Ensure your grammatical subject knowledge meets the requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum and explore ways to teach grammar in a fun and engaging way with an online English Grammar for Teachers course from UCL’s expert Englicious team. Suitable for primary and secondary teachers, there are courses all through the spring and summer terms, starting on 19th January.
  • Cost: £49.
• Explore ways to promote reading for pleasure in a secondary setting, including the use of digital tools to encourage reading for pleasure and the importance of a broad and diverse reading experience in a Reading for Pleasure online course from the NLT starting on 22nd January.
  • Cost: £120
• Build your expertise in key areas of the Primary English Curriculum and network with other Primary English leaders with the Leading Primary English in Our Time series of online webinars from HFL. Sessions take place each half term and explore a topic in depth, following the flow of the academic year. Recordings of the autumn sessions are available and the next live session is on 24th January.
  • Cost: £185 + VAT per person.
• Explore ways to diversify your English curriculum, consider which novels, stories and poems work best at KS3 and develop adaptive strategies for teaching texts in a twilight webinar from the English and Media Centre. What Kinds of Texts Work Best at KS3 is on 25th January.
  • Cost: £45 per person.
• Join a Teaching English Grammar in Context online course from UCL to learn how grammar can be integrated into analytical and creative teaching activities across a range of texts. Courses are available on 26th January and 1st March next term. Suitable for primary and secondary teachers.
  • Cost: £49.
• Sign up for Just Imagine’s Learning About Language in Context course starting on 30th January. Through live online sessions and self-study webinars, participants will examine effective ways to teach vocabulary, grammar and punctuation in the context of a language-rich primary classroom.
  • Cost: From £300 + VAT per person.
• Register for a free webinar on 31st January with the World Book Day team and the Open University looking at the importance of developing children’s reading identities as a way to Overcome the Barriers to Reading for Pleasure.
  • Cost: FREE
• Sign up for CLPE’s flagship Power of Reading programme to develop a high quality literacy curriculum that raises achievement and fosters a whole school love of reading and writing. In-person  and online courses available starting on 1st February.
  • Cost: In-person £1450 / online £1135 (includes CLPE School Membership for 12 months providing access to all Power of Reading teaching sequences).
• Explore approaches and resources to help young writers in Years 4 and 5 develop their writing fluidity, stamina and confidence with HFL’s Winning at Writing: Raising writing standards in Year 4 and 5 online course starting on 15th February.
  • Cost £225 + VAT
• In Reading for Pleasure in KS2 participants will engage with the latest research around reading for enjoyment and examine a range of approaches to enable them to develop a reading for pleasure action plan tailored to their setting. This NLT course is delivered over three short online sessions starting on 4th March.
  • Cost: £210 (discounts available for NLT members and multiple participants)
• Develop strategies to help KS2 pupils become engaged and confident writers across a range of text types in a three-part online workshop from the NLT. Improving Writing in KS2 (IPEELL) starts on 14th March.
  • Cost: £250 per person (discounts available for NLT members and multiple delegates).
• Help pupils bridge the gap between primary and secondary English grammar with the Primary to Secondary English Grammar online course from UCL on 22nd March. Understand how grammar is taught at KS2 and how to maintain continuity in KS3 to support pupils with their non-fiction reading and writing across the secondary curriculum.
  • Cost: £49
• Explore the links between reading fluency and comprehension and develop practical strategies to promote pupils’ deeper understanding of texts and support different types of inference-making in the Reading Comprehension online course from Just Imagine. Delivered through a combination of live online sessions and self-study webinars, the course runs through the spring and summer terms, starting on 26th March.
  • Cost: from £300 + VAT
• Sign up for a one-day online training course to learn how to successfully implement the principles and strategies of Jane Considine’s The Write Stuff on 28th March.
  • Cost: £96 per person.
• Join literacy consultant Jane Considine at one of her in-person training events across the country exploring the tools and techniques of her popular teaching approaches for reading, writing and spelling.
  • Cost: £215 per person.
• Sign up for the OU’s Developing Reading for Pleasure: Engaging Young Readers online course. Over eight modules, the course explores the latest research around Reading for Pleasure and its impact on children’s lives, outlines an effective Reading for Pleasure framework, and provides tips and strategies to help promote reader engagement. You can start the course at any time and do it at your own pace.
  • Cost: Free

Oracy

• Sign up for a free webinar exploring the value of verbal communication and practical skills to improve oracy in young people. The Art of Conversation is hosted by online news platform The Day on 25th January.
  • Cost: Free

Disciplinary and Media Literacy

• Develop effective literacy strategies for reading and writing across a range of secondary subjects with a series of online courses from the National Literacy Trust through the spring term. Choose from What is Disciplinary Literacy?, Developing Literacy in Science, Developing Literacy in Mathematics, Developing Literacy in PE, Developing Literacy in Geography, Developing Literacy in English, Building Vocabulary in the Secondary curriculum, Disciplinary Writing in the Secondary Curriculum and Developing Narrative and Descriptive Writing in English. Courses start on 25th January.
  • Cost: £60 for a single session and £120 for courses run over two sessions.
• Get tips on how to help students identify newsworthy ideas, develop an authentic voice, and plan, structure and edit a piece of long form writing in a free Feature and Opinion Writing webinar from the team at The Guardian Education Foundation on 30th January.
  • Cost: Free
• Learn practical strategies to support primary pupils to learn key media literacy skills and help them engage safely and effectively with the news at a free, in-person conference on 5th February. The Becoming NewsWise Conference takes place at The Guardian offices in London.
  • Cost: Free
• Explore how the Talk for Writing approach can support maths and science learning in primary schools with practical examples and activities for delegates to trial in their own schools. Talk for Writing for Maths starts on 5th March and Talk for Writing for Science starts on 6th March.
  • Cost £50 per person.

Supporting EAL students

• Explore the benefits and challenges of a multilingual classroom and get practical strategies on how to use multilingualism as a tool to support learning English as an additional language in a free webinar from Across Cultures on 11th January.
  • Cost: Free
• Sign up for the EAL Academy’s extended EAL online course starting on 15th January. The part-time accredited course requires approximately 100 hours to complete over a six month period. Explore the issues faced by the full range of EAL learners as well as practical strategies to improve classroom and whole school practice, supported by expert tutors and online peer group.
  • Cost: £950 + VAT
• Explore a range of teaching approaches and strategies based on a rich literacy curriculum that will support the needs of EAL children as they move through the different stages of language acquisition. CLPE’s Meeting the Needs of Children with EAL is a two-day course that takes place in their London offices. Starts on 31st January.
  • Cost: £385
• Learn how to implement practical and effective practices for assessing the English language proficiency of EAL pupils using The Bell Foundation’s award-winning Assessment Framework for Schools in an Introduction to EAL Assessment online course starting on 27th February.
  • Cost: £40 for state-funded UK schools/£60 for independent schools.
• Explore the range of short online courses offered by the EAL Academy to support EAL practitioners. The courses can be started at any time and take 12 – 15 hours to complete. Choose from topics such as EAL Beginners in the Mainstream Classroom, Leading EAL, and EAL and SEND.
  • Cost £195 + VAT per person

For Librarians

• Explore ways to promote reading for pleasure in a secondary setting, including the use of digital tools to encourage reading for pleasure and the importance of a broad and diverse reading experience in a Reading for Pleasure online course from the NLT starting on 22nd January.
  • Cost: £120
• Find out what teenagers have to say about their reading experiences and learn ways to promote their reading engagement in a twilight session exploring the findings of the Young People’s Reading Project from Edinburgh University. The one-hour webinar is hosted by the School Library Association on 22nd January.
  • Cost £30.
• Join members of the School Library Association team for a one-day New to School Libraries course on 25th January covering all aspects of running a school library.
  • Cost: £120
• Catch up on previous webinars in the NLT’s annual Diverse Libraries series looking at inclusive reading provision and practice. The second webinar for the current series will be in March, date to be advised.
  • Cost: Free.

Explore more CPD options across the literacy curriculum here.