"First we had the Better Reading Partnership and that has been a huge success. We wanted Talking Partners as soon as we heard about it because we know that when many bilingual pupils come to school they need to learn such a lot about English. Finding the time and producing the resources to do this was hard, but now we know that the children who need it most will get the additional support they really need"

" Now we have people trained to support the development of reading and speaking and listening. It gives the adults a lot more confidence and it cannot fail to help the children."

A School Opinion

COMMENTS FROM PARTNERS ...

"The children had to work together on the retelling. I couldn't believe the difference in the children and their confidence - I was really thrilled."

"There was a big improvement in their written work after Talking Partners."

"I love it, just seeing the looks on their faces when I go to collect them and they jump up and say - are we going to do our talking now?"

"Talking Partners provided opportunities for children to speak out in small groups. It allowed children to clarify, focus, and sequence their thoughts. When they could do this they were able to transfer them into written form."

PARTNERS' COMMENTS ABOUT THE TRAINING

"Excellent presentation - a very exciting opportunity for Bradford and our school. The materials given out will be very useful to me and the rest of the staff."

"Perfectly complemented our latest literacy training day - not in isolation from what is going on in school. I am eager to begin work on the project in school."

"......the most helpful parts of the course were the observations of work with the children and the resulting discussions. It has prompted me to think about a lot of issues for general practice in teaching too."

"The practical material to implement the course in school was excellent."

COMMENTS FROM CHILDREN

"I like it because we can learn things. I learn words and how to sit quietly and listen to people at the same time."

"I like barrier games. You have to tell the person left or right or middle, you can ask them some questions - it's an interesting game we just have to get it right."

"We made stories with toys, with the tiger and elephant.... I said a long one. I said a funny story and then I went home and made some at home."

A National Opinion

OFSTED: 'THE NATIONAL LITERACY NUMERACY STRATEGIES AND THE PRIMARY CURRICULUM', DECEMBER 2003

In the most effective schools, the training of teaching assistants is very closely related to the needs of pupils and is identified through a review of the teaching assistants' skills and knowledge.

Teaching assistants also attend induction training and a variety of local courses. Of particular note is the Talking Partners project which is developing in several LEAs and is influencing in-service training in a number of others. The project provides a short-term intervention programme, led by a trained assistant, for a small group of pupils over ten weeks. The data gathered by the schools concerned show some significant improvements in the pupils' understanding of forms of language after this relatively brief period of intervention.

Times Educational Supplement (TES) - to view Fiona Leney's  article (24.03.06) which explores how Talking Partners is effective in a variety of school contexts, please click on the following link: http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2213352

Primary National Strategy - Draft Framework for teaching literacy April 2006

"the revised Framework makes explicit the centrality of speaking and listening not only as a commmunicative skill in it's own right but also as the bedrock of literacy development"

Primary National Strategy - Draft Framework for teaching mathematics April 2006

"The main aims of the revisions to the 1999 Framework are to:

....f. incorporate speaking and listening strands to promote children's learning in mathematics"