Several of my students this year struggle to read easily. In an effort to help remedy their difficulties I will be attending the four-day Sounds-Write course in Cirencester over the next two weeks. The Sounds-Write program is described as 'a quality first phonics programme, and is probably the finest system of literacy tuition in the English language'. The 2012 DfE report said of Sounds-Write: The materials in the Sound-Write programme are clearly designed for regular short

This production finishes on 4th February but there are still a few tickets available. If you're studying this text, it would be well worth a trip to Stratford.

If you can't make it to the theatre, try the National Theatre's live feed on 10th May 2018. Showing at Cineworld Cheltenham, The Screening Rooms and The Roses in Tewkesbury. 'The ruined aftermath of a bloody civil war. Ruthlessly fighting to survive, the Macbeths are propelled towards the crown by forces of elemental darkness.'

Studying Macbeth? There are several productions to look out for before the exams in May. Here's one: 'Playful, kaleidoscopic and horrific, Filter’s radical version of Macbeth fuses Shakespeare’s corrosive, psychological thriller about ambition, power, witchcraft and sanity with innovative sound and music to take you on a strange, funny and scintillating journey to the epicentre of the “heat-oppressed brain”.

These quotations are from an old article in The Guardian but I've only just discovered them. What a fantastic attitude. If you’re dyslexic and you feel there’s something holding you back, just remember: it’s not you. In many ways being dyslexic is a natural way to be. If someone can’t understand dyslexia it’s their problem. In the same way, if someone oppresses me because of my race I don’t sit down and think, “How can I become white?” It’s not my problem, it’s theirs and th