Lindsay Pickton

Areas of Specialism in Primary Education:

• Developing the teaching of reading
• Reading practice: pleasure and purpose across and beyond the curriculum
• Developing the teaching of writing: shared, guided and independent
• The liberating power of fluency in reading and writing
• Grammar and punctuation: subject knowledge, pedagogy and ethos
• Spelling in all year groups
• Drama for reading and writing; speaking and listening; dynamic, collaborative group discussion
• Writing scrutiny: next steps and “stuck pupil” analysis and support
• Assessing, planning and teaching all areas of Primary English
• Support for English Subject Leaders: monitoring, planning, CPD
• Parents’ meetings: Helping Your Child with Reading/ Writing/ Spelling at all ages

Keynote speaker, inspirational and practical training provider, author and advisor on all things Primary English, Lindsay Pickton has successfully supported hundreds of schools, alliances & federations, specialising in all aspects of Primary English.

Lindsay provides inspiring & practical training & consultancy in every aspect of English, from writing and applied grammar & spelling to drama and oracy, the explicit teaching of reading, and how this enables reading for pleasure & purpose. He leads demonstration lessons in reading & writing, and loves sitting with teachers, looking at children’s work and planning the next unit. He is an advocate of healthy approaches to learning, and is a qualified PT.

Besides highly effective advisory & training support, keynotes & workshops, across London, SE England and beyond, Lindsay co-authors with Christine Chen for OUP, Pearson, Collins (series editors on Treasure House handbooks and the Hodder-Cambridge English Learners scheme for international schools), & Discovery Education, as well as numerous articles for Teach Primary magazines and the Teachwire website.

He is currently creating “WAGOLL” resources for Teach Primary/ Teachwire, and is a key consultant with OUP’s award-winning Readerful Rise library; as part of this, he is currently co-authoring an intervention programme for struggling readers in KS3, called Rise for Secondary.

OUP and Teach Primary have filmed Lindsay demonstrating & explaining the teaching of reading; these clips are available online.

His work with OUP, Collins & Pearson has led to national and international training on reading & writing; he has co-led training with Christine in Grenada & Dominica, focussing on boys’ under-achievement in reading; he has supported English leads for the ESF in Hong Kong.

Lindsay & Christine wrote Pearson Pinpoint Comprehension, a powerful KS2 reading resource that has been very well-received in schools.

Lindsay is an English & Philosophy graduate (Bristol), taking his PGCE at St Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill. He successfully shaped the teaching of Literacy for 14 years in Kingston upon Thames, having previously been a Leading Teacher in Richmond.