Hello World‼
🍉 an urgent humanitarian request.💔
Iam Nabil, My kids in suffering from hunger & thirst, i want to Save his life from this genocide; I am their father, helpless after losing everything I once had ! donate or Share. 🙏🏻 🔄
🔗 H/elp: bit.ly/sonmoen
🔗 Pay/pal: bit.ly/paynabil

‘Like’ isn’t a lazy linguistic filler – the English language snobs need to, like, pipe down The word ‘like’ has a grammar, and by looking at it, we can learn a lot about what ‘like’ means and what it contributes to someone’s speech.

This is also a good article to read and discuss with students. Rebecca Woods, Newcastle Uni, presents her research. We use it at KS3.
theconversation.com/like-isnt-a-...

Photo of pro Palestine murals. Central mural contains a symmetrical painting, depicting the arms of two hunger strikers rejecting food through jail bars. One side represents Bobby Sands 1981, the other Khader Adnan 2023.

Central mural is a man wearing a keffiyeh, hugging a child, with a destroyed building in the background.

The 'Paintings for Palestine' on the International Peace Wall in Belfast is really something.
12 powerful murals showing solidarity with #Palestine #Gaza

The Guardian view on talking in class: the writers speaking up for oracy education are right | Editorial Editorial: Verbal communication has always been crucial. But today more than ever, young people must be equipped for jobs that can’t be done by machines

This morning The Guardian has thrown its weight behind the campaign for oracy education.

This is an important moment for the oracy movement.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Newcastle's Lit & Phil library funding 'will expand future' Newcastle's 200-year-old Lit & Phil library has been given a grant to expand its future.

Funding for Newcastle's historic Lit & Phil library 'will expand future'. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Congratulations, great news Ian.

Summer Holiday Reading Fun for Children Schools across the country have now broken up for the summer holidays and if you are looking for ways to encourage children to enjoy books and stories I hope that some of the books and links I am s…

Schools across the country have now broken up for the summer holidays and if you are looking for ways to encourage children to enjoy books and stories I hope that some of the books and links I am sharing here will be helpful. #UKKidLit #SchoolsOut #Summerreading
alibrarylady.blog/2025/07/23/s...

Another NE primary school embracing oracy-based pedagogy.
At #VoiceNE I heard these teachers talk about their school's journey from too many written assessments, to slimming down the curriculum & embedding learning through (and to) talk. They were over the moon with the impact.

🚨 4% of players in the England Women's Euro 2025 squad went to a private school.

Ahead of the Women's Euros semi-final tonight, our analysis finds that the Lionesses backgrounds better reflect the wider population than the England Men's team and Team GB medallists ⬇️⚽️

Love this pithy statement. So true.

My colleague has just retired. She was a phenomenal, inspirational English teacher, able to engage & enthuse any class. Those who've been lucky enough to see her teach say she's the best practitioner they've seen. Significantly, she rarely used ppt slides. The text & a board pen were enough.

It's not everywhere because genocide, the crime of all crimes, is washed as 'conflict', 'war', 'two sides', 'western allies fighting for western values'

Humanity sinks in eternal shame in the mud and blood of the genocided land that is Gaza

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

This short paper about the decline in volitional reading is definitely worth ten minutes of your time.

"In an ecosystem which supports volitional reading, young people flourish and encourage each other as readers and learners."

@teresacremin.bsky.social

shorturl.at/PquEf

This is wonderful - the power of developing oracy from a student perspective.
It's a Primary Sch in our MAT.
What an important job we have as secondaries to continue the oracy journey of these students.

Voice North East - Impact Video This is "Voice North East - Impact Video" by Voice 21 Ltd on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

St. Michael's Catholic Primary School, located in Newcastle, is one of the 95 schools in Voice North East, committed to nurturing a generation skilled in oracy.

Check out this video of their oracy journey, told in their own words 🎞️ 👇

vimeo.com/1100037507?p...

in a death world
too advanced
too technical
and too full of errors
#KeepTellingofGaza #GazaGenocide

It's a privilege to be part of the editorial team for English 4-11 magazine. The latest edition is packed full of wonderful articles about all aspects of teaching English in primary schools. If you work in education and have an idea for a potential piece, do please get in touch.

whose lives exist
no more
#KeepTellingofGaza #GazaGenocide‌

I’m waiting to give a plenary, and the session before me is a group of primary school kids from Spennymoor talking brilliantly about accent and identity, and performing some of their own poetry! Talk about a tough act to follow 😬😬😂 I might sneak out now 🤫 #VoiceNE

Yes. I think it could be seen as encouraging that they decided not to tackle sec too - perhaps a reflection of the nature of the challenge & size of the task - as well making the doc unfeasibly long! (For clarity, I'm not suggesting it is easy to do a WF for Primary.)

Oh is there? I'll go and have a read. Um, I wonder why they did what sounds like a tokenistic add on.
Writing at secondary definitely will need addressing but I know the message has been curriculum review first, then pedagogy.

Great article. I've not read the doc in full yet but yr points abt consulting w the frontline & using academics & their research are so important. Plus, the overall purpose of a framework - I had the same qus abt the Reading F. Bit of a surprise that writing at secondary was left out.

Photo of Rob Drummond's slide. It says, 'Speaking isn't writing.'

Photo of Rob's slide. It says 'Learning to talk, learning through talk and learning about talk.'

@robdrummond.bsky.social had the audience thinking hard about spoken language with a captivating keynote #VoiceNE today.

Love this from @clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social - getting her (school) class to think like a linguist! #VoiceNE

Such an uplifting day listening to teachers and students talk about & showcase the impact of oracy & finding your voice. So much to celebrate and learn from schools here #VoiceNE

As part of his masters, David measured the impact of talk in his maths lessons. He noticed:

Time on task increased from 53% to 80%
Number of higher order interactions went from 1 to 8 (using blooms taxonomy)

David has adapted the talk tactics 'to sound more like a student from North Shields'

Super pleased my colleague had the opportunity to share his thinking and work around using talk in Maths.

Workshop at #VoiceNE Oracy Exhibition today.

I am wondering why they didn't follow through on the secondary part though.