SUPPORTING SCHOOLS, SECURING EXCELLENCE
As an experienced independent Educational Consultant with over a decade of experience , my core philosophy is
'Simple Things Done Well'.
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I work with teachers and schools leaders to secure effective practice that engages pupils and provides teachers with the tools to enhance their existing skills base.
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I work with schools to provide a range of tailored training and consultancy options including strategic analysis of provision and training support packages. They are all designed to secure consistency and excellence in teaching in our current educational landscape.
Helen Bowen Education Consultancy Ltd.
Tried and tested knowledge and understanding has enabled us to ​support many schools to secure effective and excellent practice.
Pupils are engaged when their learning experiences are purposeful and active.
Core toolkit strategies improve consistency and support planning. They also crucially enhance pupil independence.
Oracy is the key that unlocks reading and supports and enhances the writing process.
Our challenge is to plan a range of talking opportunities that enable pupils to share ideas, develop thinking and deepen understanding.
Core oracy strategies enhance pace and facilitate learning.
Schools need to consider the 'how' question as well as 'what'. What will pupils talk about and how will they be expected to achieve it?
Literacy should be taught not caught.
Our mission is to provide challenging learning opportunities that develop reading, writing and speaking and listening skills within meaningful contexts.
Teach and apply is the key principle. Teach the skill and apply across a range of contexts.
Effective and explicit teaching enable pupils to become independent users of the skill. The challenge goes up and the scaffolding comes down.
Consultancy Services
SUPPORTING SCHOOLS, SECURING EXCELLENCE
Our aim is to provide an invaluable service for Teachers, Headteachers and Senior Leadership Teams. The service is supportive, evaluative, well- briefed on national agenda items and priorities and positive. We provide support and advice for schools, clusters/SIG groups as well as local authorities and consortia.
SELF EVALUATION AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLANNING
We can work with you and your Senior Leadership Team to:
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Analyse aspects of consistent good practice.
Identify areas for improvement.
Create a strategic plan to address areas of inconsistency.
TRAINING SUPPORT
Our expertise enables us to plan a support package that meet your needs and has maximum impact on teaching and learning. It includes:
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INSET sessions for one or more schools.
Twilights or staff meetings.
Coaching and mentoring planning sessions for targeted teachers.
A full range of resources are included as part of the training packages. They have been developed for teachers to immediately weave into their practice, and enhance their teaching.
CROSS CUTTING THEMES
Schools have their own priorities and focus areas. We can work with you on developing these. Common focus areas include:
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Curriculum planning and design.
Literacy across the curriculum.
Engaging pupils and improving challenge.
Improving teaching and raising standards in Oracy, Reading or Writing.
Improving accuracy in writing.
Editing, marking and feedback.
For an informal conversation, prices or to discuss your exact requirements, please call
Helen Bowen on 07807 357891 or Email: helenbowen01@gmail.com
Resources
SIMPLE THINGS DONE WELL
A range of resources are provided in combination with training and support. However the following are available with or without training support, supplied electronically for schools.
READING ATTACK
LAUNCHED JANUARY 2017
‘Developing the skills for the National Reading Test; developing skills for life’
The Challenge
Developing the skills for reading and a motivation to read is a priority for schools in Wales. In spite of this, many of our pupils may not have the independent 'attack' skills or the ability to have a go at reading something unfamiliar, on their own, at speed. This affects pupil independence and may even affect a pupil’s ability to do well in our National Reading Test. We may even have particular year groups that find the test more demanding than others. This may be a whole school trend resulting in a discrepancy between teacher assessment and the reading test data.
The NRT is a challenge too because we are strongly encouraged to not reduce or modify our curriculum to ‘prepare’ pupils for the test. Many of us agree with this, but we are still faced with the challenge of making sure our pupils are familiar with the test questions as well as developing the stamina to read something at length, independently.
The Solution
Reading Attack is a brand new method and resource that I have developed to help pupils have the confidence, skills and stamina to ‘attack’ a text independently. It has been developed closely with teachers, pupils and senior leaders and the feedback has been excellent.
In a Nutshell – A Brief Overview
To make Reading Attack effective, ideally, you need 2 x 10 minute sessions per week, but it can also be implemented if you decide to allocate only 1 x 10 minute session to this.
Pupils are given one of the fiction or non-fiction Reading Attack passages to read. The passages have been differentiated 3 times whilst retaining the same key information so that mixed ability groupings can work and succeed together.
Passage 1 has longer sentences, more complex vocabulary and greater length. Passages 2 and 3 have lower vocabulary, shorter sentences and shorter length, whilst retaining similar content.
After timed independent reading of the passage the teacher has allocated (attack), pupils are given an oral task to complete with their partner e.g. 2 facts 2 opinions, 3 things you now know about x. One thing that surprised you…etc. Full guidance and examples of these is provided.
SPELLING ATTACK
LAUNCHED JANUARY 2018
‘Putting Spelling Back on the Agenda - What, When and How?’
The Challenge
Accuracy in writing matters. It is a life skill.
It matters to the writer for a positive writing experience and for their self-image as a writer.
It matters to readers of the writing, forming opinions on the writer as a result of their spelling ability.
Spelling should be taught, not caught.
Wales is entering a new phase of creativity, experiential and active learning, where our pupils will experience a curriculum that challenges their thinking and motivates them as learners. Spelling must be part of this.
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The Spelling Attack Solution
Spelling Attack is a brand new method and resource that I have developed to help pupils become confident accurate spellers, and to take an interest in spelling as a part of the writing process.
Overview
The emphasis on phonics that has been effective in many of our schools is only part of the spelling jigsaw. Pupils need to have the opportunities to develop the full range of spelling strategies so that they can spell words that are irregular, or when phonics are unhelpful e.g. said, they, friend etc.
The Spelling Attack resource contains a bank of spelling strategies and activities to engage pupils with locking words in e.g. through repetition or the development of visual memory.
A training event will explore how Spelling Attack can be used for groups of pupils working on similar words, for whole classes looking at subject specific or themed spellings as well as for individual pupils who are working on their own individual spelling words. Ideally it is used with all three of these in combination.
Central to Spelling Attack is that pupils experience the activities as engaging and competitive, with pace and challenge at the heart of them.
Spelling Attack has helped pupils to become independent, reflective spellers who crucially understand the words they find tricky and how they can overcome these challenges to write more accurately.
About Me
SUPPORTING SCHOOLS, SECURING EXCELLENCE
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Helen believes that to be effective you have to connect with people. She is approachable and fair-minded but is also enjoys a good debate!
Helen started teaching in 1994 in South Wales. In 2005 she joined the Newport Literacy Team and worked there for a decade, leading on English and literacy across the region. She has worked across phases supporting colleagues with developing best practice in English and literacy. This included analysing impact and securing consistency across a region.
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Helen was also an experienced Link Adviser and in latter years took up a Challenge Adviser role. Helen is a qualified Team Inspector for Estyn.
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She was the regional representative and adviser to Welsh Government from 2010 to 2013 working closely on the development of the LNF. Helen has also written the recent Literacy and Numeracy: your questions answered document as well as
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Other Experience and National Profile
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Helen has a broad and balanced portfolio of experience at a national level, including:
sitting on a number of national advisory panels including National Drama. She is a keen advocate of, and is most well-known for her use of creative approaches in the classroom. This includes promoting how drama and ‘rich contexts’ such as images and film can be used to improve literacy. This led to her being invited by the DfES to be a member of the Review of the Arts panel alongside Professor Dai Smith;
serving as a lead member of the monitoring panel looking at the materials that were developed for schools by Telesgop, celebrating the work of Dylan Thomas;
advising universities in Wales on developing literacy in Initial Teacher Training;
undertaking the role of Deputy Chief Examiner for KS2/3 Assessment from 2009 to 2012;
the role of literacy consultant for Collective Learning Ltd;
the role of literacy consultant for TLC! Ltd.;
education consultant and conference leader on literacy from 2013 to present day for the NEU;
literacy workshop leader for the WJEC; and
education partner to Giglets Education Ltd.
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Testimonials
WHAT'S BEING SAID
"This is a Testimonial. Let your customers tell the world how great you are."
Contact Me
Have a particular challenge you’re trying to deal with? Contact me today and see how we can make a difference.
07807 357891