Power of Reading - London

The Power of Reading is CLPE’s proven programme that supports your school to develop a high quality literacy curriculum which fosters a whole school love of reading and writing and raises achievement in literacy.

This 4 day training programme delivered at our Centre, uses high quality children’s literature and proven creative teaching approaches to help teachers to plan and deliver an engaging literacy curriculum. The Power of Reading is a long standing programme which was first developed in 2005. It has a rich evidence base and has raised achievement in more than 5000 schools. 98% of teachers saw improved engagement in children’s reading and 97% saw an improvement in children’s writing. Children who are part of the programme make an additional six months progress compared to their peers. 

View our videos below with the first on the essentials of the Power of Reading with Darren Matthews and the second on its impact on schools 

Find out more about the impact of our programmes.

What you will learn:

This 4 day course is underpinned by extensive research and is designed by our highly experienced team of teachers who bring their professional knowledge and teaching experience to the Power of Reading training. This training meets all requirements of the National Curriculum and covers:

• Improving knowledge of children's literature and its role in developing children's literacy;
• Improving the reading environment and access to texts;      
• The role of reading aloud in developing children as readers and writers;
• Planning and delivering text based units of work;
• Exploring a range of creative approaches and their role in engaging children in literacy;
• Embedding reading skills and strategies in the whole class teaching of English;  
• Using quality texts to teach language, vocabulary and grammar in context and develop greater depth in writing;
• Exploring the development of language and ideas for writing;
• The role of storytelling in developing children's understanding of narrative;
• Using drama to improve comprehension and composition;
• Using non-fiction to develop understanding of audience and authorial voice; 
• The importance of poetry in developing children as readers and writers;
• Choosing and using high-quality children’s literature to build an English curriculum throughout the school;
• Developing a reading for pleasure culture throughout the school.

What participants will receive?

As well as 4 full days training, all participants will receive two Power of Reading book packs: one containing 12 tried and tested high-quality children’s books, appropriate to their year group with accompanying teaching plans; and one containing 2 titles to develop participants knowledge and understanding of children’s literature. All texts are chosen by the CLPE teaching team. There will also be the opportunity to meet leading children's writers such as SF Said, Ken Wilson-Max, Bethan Woolvin, Piers Torday and Chitra Soundar.

Participants will also receive a CLPE School Membership for 12 months. This membership gives whole school access to our Power of Reading teaching sequences for every year group from Nursery to Y7, as well as examples of how teachers have implemented their training back in the classroom and access to home learning activities.

Your CLPE School membership will be activated upon payment of the course and will run for 12 months.

Schools who book more than one attendee will have a discounted price of £995 on additional attendees.

​Consortium or school groups booking 10 places will pay just £1000 per place. Please email [email protected] to find out more.

Participants will receive joining instructions for the course one week before the training date. If you have any queries, please email [email protected].

Bringing the Power of Reading to you:
We can deliver the project to groups of schools in a local area. For more information about commissioning a local project please email: p[email protected].

A wonderful example of the success of the Power of Reading can be seen in the outstanding Ofsted Report 2023 for one of CLPE's Associate Schools Hillmorton Primary School,  Rugby 

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