The launch of “Strong Foundations: A Literacy Framework for Primary Schools” marks an exciting – and busy – chapter for education in Northern Ireland. Education Minister Paul Givan has been clear: the goal is to close the attainment gap and ensure every child, from P1 to P7, can “read and read well.”
But for a busy classroom teacher, a new framework often means one thing: “How am I going to find the time to plan for this?”
Fortunately, at Fred’s Teaching, we’ve spent years building resources rooted in the very same evidence-based practices the DE is now championing. These resources are tried and tested, in schools across the United Kingdom and around the world, and have proven to raise attainment for all groups of learners across school! Here is how we can help you meet the new requirements in the Literacy Framework:
1. Prioritising Oracy (Talking and Listening): The framework highlights Oracy as the bedrock of literacy. Our Awesome Oracy units are designed to move beyond informal talk, providing structured “physical, linguistic, and cognitive” frameworks for discussion.
Oracy also sits at the core of our Whole-Class Reading and Writing resources – with ‘time to talk’ a core element of lessons that has been specifically praised by Ofsted during inspections in England.
2. Bridging the Gap with Fluency :The framework leans heavily into the Science of Reading, specifically the importance of fluency as a bridge to comprehension. Our Fluent in Five and Fluency Friday resources provide the “practical, evidence-based tools” requested at the TransformED symposium to help improve prosody and automaticity. We also offer Fluency Assessments which provide you with the research-informed tools to track fluency over time. The Science of Reading also sits at the core of our Whole-Class Reading lessons
3. Inclusion & Equity With a focus on the RAISE Locality Led projects and closing socio-economic gaps, our Whole-Class Reading approach ensures no child is left behind. By using high-quality, scaffolded texts, you provide an equitable experience for all learners in your classroom. Every child accesses and joins in with your core reading lesson, and then individuals can be targeted using our Fluent in Five intervention resource.
The Bottom Line: You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Fred’s Teaching resources are C2k compatible and align perfectly with the new Literacy Framework and the P1 – P7 journey for children in Northern Ireland. Our resources are also an eligible use of the Teacher Professional Learning (TPL) Fund, either as a subscription to our website or via CPD which we can deliver either in person or online!
We provide the “Strong Foundations” so you can focus on the teaching. And if you’d like to have a go at using our resources in your classroom NOW, download some FREE sample resources right here:
If you’d like to find out more, or have any questions about our resources, drop us an email at kieron@fredsteaching.com or get in touch using the contact form on this website.