The co-creation of ‘Words for All – Closing the Language Gap’ is an initiative that both Bolton Learning Partnership and Whole Education are honoured to share. Both organisations have a common philosophy and commitment to support members and equip them with the skills, knowledge, experience and shared learning opportunities that they need to deliver a broad, balanced and rich curriculum.

Acknowledging that there is a ‘word gap’ in primary and secondary schools for many young people, member schools in Bolton came together with Whole Education to share a collaborative approach to resolve the ‘word gap’ together. Bolton set about to share best practice and strategies which could be sustained over the medium and long term future – an ambitious 10+ year plan.

Through work within and between schools they share knowledge, expertise and approaches to deliver a language rich education.  They have gathered evidence of small-scale projects which impact upon students’ oracy, reading and writing skills. The team committed to addressing areas of curriculum, pastoral, as well as classroom practice to improve the quality of education and raise the achievement of all students who attend secondary schools in Bolton. This project will provide students with the ability to develop and apply lifelong skills whilst simultaneously improving self-confidence through articulacy and therefore resilience in the world around them.

In order to work towards achieving this, each school, each year will select a specific identified target group with which to pilot strategies, where strategies can be delivered, monitored and the impact evaluated within set criteria to be subsequently evaluated and then taken to scale. This will culminate in a yearly presentation to stakeholders to highlight the collaborative approach in closing the language gap in Bolton and to further cascade measurable and impactful approaches to all schools.

To access the slides from our recent presentation see below or visit the WE BLOG for more information.