Reading Workshops
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Special Launch Offer 🏷️
Special Launch Offer 🏷️
🚀 Special Launch Offer
🚀 Special Launch Offer
To celebrate the launch of our new workshop series, I am offering a massive discount for the first schools to book.
Standard Workshop Rate: ~~£300~~
Launch Offer Rate: £150 (Per 2 - 3 Hour Workshop)
Why the discount? As I launch these new sessions, I’m looking to gather photos, videos, and testimonials of the workshops in action. In exchange for the half-price rate, I simply ask for a brief testimonial and permission to capture the "magic" of the session for my portfolio.
What are they?
An immersive workshop where I lead a class through a deep-dive of a book, theme or extract while your staff observe, reflect and get involved themselves!
Why Book Our Reading Workshops?
Every encounter with English should be an irresistible invitation to learn—and there has never been a time where it's more important for children to be invited to explore language comprehension in a way that truly captures their imagination.
Our sessions serve a dual purpose: an immersive experience for pupils and high-impact CPD for staff on how to evolve reading instruction in Key Stage Two and beyond. 💡
"Once pupils can read, their language comprehension is driven by the amount they read - their 'reading miles' - as well as the books and other texts they continue to hear read to them, and opportunities to listen and speak."
"Listening to, thinking deeply about and discussing a wide range of texts, including literature, develops pupils' love of reading and enhances their vocabulary."
— The Reading Framework, July 2023
How do our workshops support pupils?
Build 'Mental Models' | Helping pupils move beyond the page to visualise and truly inhabit the world of the text. 🧠🌎
Reading for Purpose | Shifting the focus from "finishing the task" to exploring the text with genuine intent. 🎯📖
High-Quality Discussion | Using structured talk to unpick complex meanings and nuance. 🗣️💬
Foster Enjoyment | Igniting a love of reading through activities that feel like an adventure, not an exam. 🎭✨
How do our workshops support staff?
Talk over Tasks | Moving away from written comprehension sheets toward high-level oral reasoning. 🚫📝 ✅🎙️
Transferable Toolkits | Providing practical strategies that can be taken straight back to the classroom. 🛠️👩🏫
Defining True Comprehension | Re-framing comprehension as the way we make sense of language, not just how we answer questions. 🧩📚
Check out the workshops we currently offer below
Can't see what what you want? Get in touch and we will design a bespoke workshop for you!
Verse through the Voice
A Kid in my Class by Rachel Rooney - Year 4
Verse through the Voice
A Kid in my Class by Rachel Rooney - Year 4
Dive into the witty, relatable world of Rachel Rooney’s award-winning poetry. This workshop moves beyond the page to explore the "stereotypes" of the modern classroom—from the daydreamer to the joker—helping pupils see themselves reflected in high-quality verse.
How it Works: Meaning through Voice 🎙️
Pupils won't just read these poems; they will "unlock" them. The core of this session is using prosody to prove comprehension.
Decoding Persona: Pupils explore their own personalities to inhabit the characters within the book. 🎭
Performance as Proof: Instead of writing an answer, pupils demonstrate their understanding of tone, irony, and subtext by deciding how a line should be read. 🗣️🔊
Collaborative Meaning: Groups work together to negotiate the "right" rhythm and emphasis, building a collective mental model of the text. 🤝🧠
The Impact ✨
For Pupils: Boosts reading fluency and confidence while dismantling the "fear" of poetry.
For Staff: A live demonstration of how oral performance serves as a rigorous assessment tool for comprehension.
Workshop Length: 2 - 3 Hours
Workshop Cost: £300 £150
The Colour of Hope
The Red Tree by Shaun Tan - Upper Key Stage 2
The Colour of Hope
The Red Tree by Shaun Tan - Upper Key Stage 2
Step into Shaun Tan’s surrealist world to explore the complexities of emotion and atmosphere. This workshop focuses on the unwritten narrative, teaching pupils how to "read" colour as carefully as they would read text. It is a powerful session for developing empathy and high-level inferential thinking.
How it Works: Visual Comprehension 🔍
Pupils move beyond literal retrieval to justify the artistic choices that drive the story's "mood."
Colour Journeys & Swatches: Pupils map the protagonist’s emotional trajectory by creating physical "colour journeys." Using swatches, they must identify the exact shift from the "heavy" grays of hopelessness to the vibrant amber of the final page. 📈🖌️
Justifying the Palette: Pupils don’t just pick colours; they justify them. Why this shade of indigo? What does the shift to crimson signal? This develops the skill of explaining how to influence a reader's feelings. 🗣️⚖️
Captions for the Unspoken: Pupils create precise, atmospheric captions for Tan’s wordless spreads. This bridges the gap between visual "reading" and description. ✍️🖼️
The Impact ✨
For Pupils: Deepens the ability to synthesise information from multi-modal texts and develops a rich vocabulary for talking about abstract concepts like mood and metaphor.
For Staff: A clear demonstration of how to teach "Inference and Deduction" through visual media—vital for pupils who may struggle with dense text but possess high-level emotional intelligence.
Workshop Length: 2 - 3 Hours
Workshop Cost: £300 £150
The Rhythm of Resilience
Lose Yourself by Eminem - Year 6
The Rhythm of Resilience
Lose Yourself by Eminem - Year 6
Take poetry off the pedestal and put it into the recording studio. By analysing one of the most famous lyrical narratives of the 21st century, pupils explore the high-stakes world of performance poetry. This workshop is a masterclass in prosody and comprehension monitoring, designed to hook even the most reluctant readers.
How it Works: The Sound Engineer’s Perspective 🎚️
Pupils act as "Sound Engineers," tasked with unpicking the emotional architecture of the lyrics to prepare a "Foley Script."
The Foley Script: Pupils identify the "emotional beat" of the poem. They decide where the silence should sit, where the "white noise" of anxiety builds, and where the "heavy bass" of determination takes over. 🎙️📉
Comprehension Monitoring: As the rhythm accelerates, pupils must track the narrative. If they lose the thread of the story, they cannot "mix" the track. This forces an active, constant check-in with the text’s meaning. 🔄🧠
The Impact ✨
For Pupils: High-octane engagement that validates their cultural interests while demanding rigorous textual analysis.
For Staff: A radical example of how to teach inference through sound and tempo, demonstrating that "reading" happens with the ears and heart as much as the eyes.
Workshop Length: 2 - 3 Hours
Workshop Cost: £300 £150
⚠️ A Word of Caution
⚠️ A Word of Caution
Note for School Leaders: While this workshop uses a critically acclaimed text, we utilise a strictly edited, age-appropriate version of the lyrics. The focus remains entirely on the narrative of overcoming adversity and the technical brilliance of the rhyme scheme. We handle the source material with the professional sensitivity required for a Year 6 classroom.
The Unbroken Thread
Erika's Story by Ruth Vander Zee - Year 6
The Unbroken Thread
Erika's Story by Ruth Vander Zee - Year 6
Navigate one of the most moving accounts of the Holocaust with sensitivity and depth. This workshop explores the true story of Erika, a baby thrown from a train to save her life. We move beyond the harrowing history to examine authorial intent: How does Vander Zee use narrative to reclaim a "lost" identity?
How it Works: Mapping the Internal & External 🧩
The session centers on a powerful visual metaphor—the silhouette of a baby—to help pupils track complex themes of identity and "erasure."
The Silhouette Project: Pupils use a silhouette to map Erika’s two identities. On the outside, they record the "labels" the Nazis tried to impose (erasure of name, faith, and family). On the inside, they curate the evidence of her survival—her resilience, her unknown heritage, and the "story" she carries. ✍️👶
Comprehension Monitoring: This workshop requires pupils to constantly "check in" with their understanding of the historical context versus the personal narrative, ensuring they can link both to reach a deep, inferential conclusion.
The Impact ✨
For Pupils: Develops the emotional maturity to handle challenging themes through structured discussion
For Staff: A live example of how to tackle SMSC (Social, Moral, Spiritual, and Cultural) development within a rigorous reading framework, using talk to prove comprehension of abstract concepts.
Workshop Length: 2 - 3 Hours
Workshop Cost: £300 £150
⚠️ A Note on Sensitivity
⚠️ A Note on Sensitivity
While this workshop explores a period of profound historical trauma, the pedagogical focus remains on the themes of identity, survival, and the power of the human spirit. We handle the source material with the utmost care, ensuring the session is accessible and emotionally safe for Year 6 pupils while maintaining the historical integrity required for such a significant subject. We recommend teachers are present to support the post-session transition.
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