English Conference: Mastering the Mechanics of Writing

Brief overview

Our English Conference 2025 will focus on the enormity of becoming a writer. Transcription (including spelling and handwriting), composition (vocabulary, grammar and punctuation): there is so much involved in the process of writing! How do we remove the barriers for pupils who find writing difficult, or have become disengaged from the process? How do we support pupils to find their voice as a writer, giving them the vital life skills needed for a successful future?

Keynote speakers Lindsay Pickton and Mark Creasy, together with Rory File and other renowned experts in the field of education, will lead you through 'Mastering the Mechanics of Writing' at this year's exciting and informative event.

Lindsay Pickton: Lindsay Pickton is an independent primary English advisor with more than 20 years’ experience, successfully supporting hundreds of schools with all aspects of English. With his wife, Christine Chen, he has authored and advised on many teaching resources for Oxford University Press, Collins Education, Pearson, Hodder, First News, Discovery, Teach Primary, Plazoom and others. Lindsay is passionate about the development of reading and writing abilities and attitudes, and believes that we can and should make things simpler and more efficient, because the complicated bit is teaching a class of individuals.

Lindsay’s Keynote,  Sequencing the Teaching of Writing, will offer a truly hands-on, practical, familiar sequence that distinguishes between teaching writing and the independent application of skills. It will explore the difference between skills and content, and the difference between the model of writing, and modelling writing.

Rory File: A former teacher and leader, Rory is currently Education and Partnerships Lead @ ILT UK. He completed a Masters in Educational Leadership with a focus on research-informed strategies to address the challenges faced by underserved learners and is passionate about literacy, lifelong learning, and asset-based pedagogies.

Mark Creasy: Mark has taught for 28 years and has the distinction of having taught across the primary, secondary and special education sectors. He has worked at all levels of responsibility within schools, in both the state and independent sectors –always working on school improvement so that Ofsted judgements were improved during his time there. The author of two books: Independent Thinking on Primary Teaching and Unhomework, as well as contributing to three other books, Mark’s focus is all about making teachers lives easier and removing the stress from teaching and learning – yet still maximising outcomes. As a father, his mantra for education has always been ‘If it’s not good enough for my daughter, it’s not good enough for anyone else’s child’. He will harness all of this in today’s keynote Getting Writing Right.

In his keynote Mark will support delegates to explore practices that maximise the opportunities for writing and how to ensure that the learners become writers in their own right, rather than follow prosaic sequences of writing from 'gather ideas to final draft'. There will be a consideration of the importance of oracy to the writing process and how to ensure progressive development across key stages so that each provides stepping stones for progress and excellence in writing - but more importantly, supporting learners to foster a love of writing that will stay with them for life. 

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