Heather's thoughts are always very interesting - indeed she gives the reader 'food for thought' whether as a parent or teacher. I've flagged up this link because I think Heather really touches upon some very important issues about schooling and the early years which are not as clear cut as people ma...

All of Heather F's early years' posts are well worth reading for anyone with an interest in the early years and the great debate about the ethos behind learning for birth to five year olds - this is really an important topic: https://heatherfblog.wordpress.com/category/early-years/page/3/ So, don't ...

Congratulations to Kevin and Robin Wheldall, and colleagues, for all their hard work in further developing the successful Multi-Lit programmes. They are joint editors of the 'Nomanis' bulletin and here is their very first edition: In this first issue, we feature: two articles by Jennifer Buckingham ...

Learning Difficulties Australia produce a fantastic bulletin which they are providing 'free' as a 'special offer' for anyone and not just LDA members, see here:

https://www.ldaustralia.org/client/docu ... 202016.pdf

Timothy Shanahan and Christopher Lonigan explore the connection between early oral language development and later reading comprehension success in Language Magazine : Supporting young children’s language and literacy development has long been considered a practice that yields strong readers and writ...

This is an important paper which leaves us in no doubt that reading ability and capacity to read early and well, and subsequently reading in volume, are hugely important. It is a must-read for all teachers and the information about vocabulary-ranking is very interesting and surely essential knowledg...

August 2016 - see the first edition of an excellent bulletin 'Nomanis' which is free to download:

https://indd.adobe.com/view/0183a7a8-24 ... 00e04f71b5

The Department for Education in England provide the statutory test materials and guidance for free access after their formal use in England, see here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/key-stage-2-tests-past-papers#phonics-screening-check Key stage 2 tests 2016 test materials. Key stage 2 te...

This is invaluable material to investigate - it includes the tests/assessments material and the guidance as used in England: For the free Year One Phonics Screening Check materials, scroll to the bottom of the government page at the link below: Past versions of the phonics screening check, key stage...

Thanks, Dick, for your comments. That is why I added a few thoughts of my own following the 'snippets'. I often think of issues in life with 'the fine line' in mind. Clearly there are many sides to any situation, many perspectives, many different experiences - and this is the case where 'testing' is...