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Why Professional Development for Teachers Matters More Than Ever - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 19th Aug 2025

At Roade English Hub, we believe that when teachers thrive, pupils thrive. One of the most powerful ways schools can improve outcomes for children is by investing in high-quality professional development (CPD) for staff. And the research really backs this up. What the research says Fletcher-Wood and Succolo (2020) carried out a wide-ranging review of professional development and found that, when done well, it has a greater and more sustained impact on pupil learning than other popular strategies.
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“I Know My Alphabet” Hayley Pyrah (Hub Lead) - 11th Aug 2025

Recently, I was flicking through a lovely book in the school library about a bear wanting to learn to read. As I continued to read on, I felt a buzz of excitement- this could be another perfect book to share with the hub team, teachers and reading leaders, a way to inspire and support our ongoing work with early readers. That is… until they started teaching the bear to read by learning the alphabet! It is often a common and understandable misconception that we learn to read by first learning the letters of the alphabet.
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Fluency: Practical Strategies Without the Price Tag - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 14th Jul 2025

Reading fluency is the ability to read with accuracy, appropriate speed, and expression. A fluent reader doesn’t just decode words correctly, they read smoothly and with understanding. Research consistently shows that fluency is a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. If a child struggles to decode words, their mental energy is spent on sounding out instead of understanding what they read (National Reading Panel, 2000).
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From Page to Heart: Empowering Parents to Read Aloud with Joy - Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 13th Jun 2025

Reading aloud to children is more than just a bedtime ritual—it’s a cornerstone of literacy development and emotional bonding. Linking reading and love and safety creates humans who love reading for life, and we all know what an impact that can have on futures. Yet, recent findings reveal that many parents find this practice challenging. As educators, we have a pivotal role in supporting and guiding parents to make reading aloud a joyful and integral part of their family life.
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From Learning to Read to Reading to Learn: Roade English Hub is Coming to KS3! Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 23rd May 2025

We’ve got exciting news that we can’t keep to ourselves any longer… From September, Roade English Hub is expanding its reach to support 10 secondary schools across the region—and yes, that could include yours! Backed by funding and rooted in research, we’re bringing our tried-and-tested reading expertise to Key Stage 3 with a bespoke support offer, starting with a comprehensive Reading Audit and ongoing guidance grounded in The Reading Framework (DfE, 2023). Why? Because fluent reading at Key Stage 3 is not a “nice to have”—it’s the gateway to the curriculum.
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Falling in love… with reading! Hayley Pyrah (Hub Lead) - 22nd Apr 2025

With Valentine’s Day taking place in February, there is always a lot of chatter about ‘LOVE’. Showing the ones you love and care for your appreciation, hearts and flowers displayed in every shop window… but I would like to talk about a different kind of love… a love of reading! As educators, we know how important it is to teach children how to read. We know it is a life skill, one that enhances all academic areas but what happens next?
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Phonics- Is It Magic? Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 1st Apr 2025

Practical Tips for Strengthening Early Reading Let’s face it: getting our youngest learners reading fluently can sometimes feel like magic. But we know it’s not! It all starts with a solid foundation in phonics, and that’s where we, as reading leaders and teachers, come in. The Department for Education (DfE) Reading Framework, and the recent research is clear: phonics is non-negotiable when it comes to early reading success, especially in EYFS and Year 1.
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Phonics Techniques and Strategies Beyond KS1 - Louisa Webber (Marketing and Engagement Associate ) - 3rd Mar 2025

“I’m a KS2 teacher. I don’t need to know anything about phonics.” Is this something you’ve heard a colleague say? Well, as a year 6 teacher myself, it saddens me that you may have heard teachers state such things. Before moving over to teach year 6, I taught in year 1 for three years and I too probably dismissed phonics when I became a ‘KS2 teacher’.
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Look who's talking - Gill Wilcox (Literacy Specialist) - 24th Feb 2025

Let me pose you a question. As you look across the classroom at your children, what is it that fills your thoughts? Do you ever wonder how their futures will unfold? Are you ever overwhelmed with the responsibility that we, as educators, are in part, responsible for the ease at which children fit into society?
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Why don’t schools teach spelling like they teach phonics? Jodie Matthews (Strategic Lead) - 3rd Feb 2025

As I sat down today to help my ten year old daughter learn her list of ten spellings I pondered this question. Schools teach phonics so well and phonics schemes are mostly built upon the research and evidence bank of effective retrieval practice. Schools are so much more aware of retrieval practice now and over the last 5 or so years we have begun to understand long and short term memory much more and strategies for retaining information have found their way into the classroom. I have observed many retrieval sessions over the last 2 years in classrooms, revision sessions at the start of a maths lesson, a weekly or termly review of learning, lessons that link to learning last year or last month, all of which help children to embed their learning into their long term memory.
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