SOUTH STAFFS (Codsall)

Hello and welcome to The Reading Doctor for South Staffordshire (Codsall).

My story has so many parallels to that of our founder Deborah Salsbury. As a child, at primary school, I always found reading difficult and the process to read new words and learn spellings was arduous. When I moved to our local middle school, I have a vivid memory of desperately scanning ahead during the class novel read around the room session. I wasn’t listening to the story but instead trying to predict and rehearse which paragraph would be mine to read out loud so I wouldn’t be embarrassed stumbling over the words. It was not long after this that my class teacher told me I would be having extra sessions with a specialist teacher. These sessions allowed me to work at my own pace and I was rewarded for my efforts. From this point my confidence slowly started to bloom and I knew that in future I wanted to teach. I gained a love of reading and become somewhat of a book worm. I went on to study A level English Literature. It was whilst studying at university for my degree in English Literature and Classical Studies that a lecturer mentioned to me that I could possibly be dyslexic.

I had always dreamed of being a teacher and in 2001, having completed my PGCE, I started my career as a primary school teacher in Dudley. I loved my role of class teacher and gained the most satisfaction from helping those children who struggled to succeed, watching them overcome the barriers they faced. I was however sometimes frustrated that I couldn’t spend the time I wanted with individual children, and I didn’t feel that I always knew that best way to help.

Following on from the birth of my son and with the arrival of a new head teacher at my school I was approached about training as a Reading Recovery Teacher as part of the Every Child a Reader Programme. The training I received was excellent and I finally had the tools and structure to help in the best way I could. It was an honour to be a Reading Recovery Teacher and to work with children on a 1-1 basis. I felt grateful every day for being given the opportunity. My role evolved to include training staff and volunteers in interventions based on Reading Recovery in my own school and others around the borough, leading the teaching of phonics across the school and developing a reading for pleasure ethos.

My role as a Reading Recovery Teacher continued for nearly a decade and in 2015, I was proud to receive a “Reading Recovery Teacher of the Year Award”. For me teaching children the complexities of learning to read is all about building a trusted relationship, where the child has the confidence to take risks in order to succeed. I wish never to lower the bar of expectation but to scaffold the child’s learning in a way that allows them to reach it. Self-belief and confidence are vital.

I have experience of teaching across all phases of the primary years, I have worked as Senco and part of the school senior leadership team and also gained a specialist teacher qualification in Spld Dyslexia from Edgehill University. More recently I have worked as a National Tuition Program Tutor across boroughs in the West Midlands.

I am so grateful that fate led me to happen across “The Reading Doctor” pages whilst browsing the internet. When I read the shared ethos, saw the wealth of experience amongst my fellow Reading Doctors and the engaging resources,  I knew that this was the correct path for me to take.

It is truly a privilege to be a Reading Doctor and I am so excited to be offering my services to the families and schools in my surrounding area. I look forward to meeting and working with you.