St. Matthew’s CE Primary, Birmingham, West Midlands

St Matthew’s is a successful one-form entry primary school close to the centre of Birmingham. We celebrate the diversity of our children, with nine out of ten pupils coming from minority ethnic groups and with 16 different languages spoken at home. We believe talk is very important across the curriculum.

In February 2015 Ofsted stated in its report that “It is clear to see why the school was recognised as one of the top 100 most improved schools in 2014…Writing is taught exceptionally well because teachers and adults who support them focus on making sure pupils receive exactly the right level of help they need to succeed.”

In 2011/12 we started to implement the Talk for Writing approach to the teaching of English and it has had a huge impact on the progress of our pupils. Our pupils will tell you that they love writing.

We are very proud of our creative and coherent programme of professional development. Having embraced the Talk for Writing approaches to learning, we have adapted them to a Talk for Maths process. As a result, we have implemented our ‘Talk for’ ethos across the whole school. Our dedicated members of staff are determined to ensure that our pupils are the very best writers, readers and mathematicians they can be.
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By combining learning strategies such as mental warm ups text mapping tool-kits and hand actions with a formal and consistent approach to handwriting spelling grammar and phonics, our Topic RE and Science books demonstrate that ‘the proof is in the pudding’. You will be given an opportunity to judge our cross-curricular work for yourselves, as work scrutiny will be part of your ‘Talk for’ experience at St Matthew’s.

Organised visits to the school will include opportunities to observe lessons across the whole school, training from our leader, Sonia Thompson, and looking at our books. In our bespoke learning hub, you’ll also have the opportunity to engage in and reflect on the lessons we’ve learnt on our journey.

Overview of how to plan a Talk for Writing unit for teachers already familiar with the philosophy/strategies.

• An opportunity to discuss ideas and processes for planning a unit, based around a quality text, picture book or film
• Plan a unit of work (please bring the text you will be using for the unit with you)

£120 for a full day

For dates and booking forms, please click the button below to visit the centre training website.

Contact

Natalie French
Tel no: 0121 359 1602
T4W@st-matthews.bham.sch.uk

Centre training webpage
Story map St Matthew's CE Primary
“I would like to thank you for the excellent training which you provided…Feedback from staff was that it was clear and precise. They felt as if they knew what they had to do”Deputy Headteacher, Birmingham primary school
Pupils working together St Matthew's CE Primary
“My vocabulary is much better. I use exciting words in my writing now” Year 3 pupil
“I want to be a lawyer and I know that I have to be able to write well…the toolkits definitely help me” Year 6 pupil