Northern Ireland: Inspirational principal acknowledges importance of systematic phonics

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Northern Ireland: Inspirational principal acknowledges importance of systematic phonics

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This is a great news story - and congratulations to retiring principal, Barry Sharvin!

In the news piece (link below), Barry Sharvin very graciously mentions another very special man, Jim Curran, who is a true stalwart at promoting systematic synthetic phonics following his own investigation as to why children were not succeeding in their education. Jim Curran has tirelessly contributed to the message forum of the UK Reading Reform Foundation since the launch of its first website many years ago - not only about issues around reading instruction, but also about various social injustices linked to education:
Inspirational principal retires from De la Salle High School

5 July 2017

DE La Salle High School’s principal can retire with peace of mind this summer. Strangford man Barry Sharvin will leave a thriving school behind when his career draws to an end this summer after more than three decades.
http://www.thedownrecorder.co.uk/pages/ ... igh_School
“Our results were not good enough,” he conceded. “Our staff was always excellent but we needed to raise our expectations of what the boys could achieve. It was about raising the bar for students.

“It was a challenge convincing colleagues of a new way to go, but once our results started shooting up it gave us a great boost. Within two years we had turned it around.”

Low literacy levels were a big part of the challenge faced and Barry believed that if reading ability improved, the rest would follow.

The pupils were helped along by Jim Curran, a teacher at the forefront of his field at the time.

Trained in synthetic phonics in London, Jim brought literacy skills to De La Salle that Barry said “set it apart.”

“No one else was using phonics at the time,” he said.

“If you teach a boy to read he can succeed in geography, history and religion and all other subjects.

“It was a combination of things that made a difference, but focusing on literacy was key.”
It's notable that in the actions required to move this debate about reading instruction and literacy standards along, we need both teamwork and the work of remarkable individuals, such as Barry Sharvin and Jim Curran.

Below is a video clip of Jim Curran introducing an RRF conference held in London:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvr7EgWaZ84
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