Teacher trialling

These MESH spelling materials have been devised with two goals in mind: first, to help teachers (and those training to become teachers) gain a deeper insight into how children learn to spell; and second, to provide some practical assistance in supporting that learning.

The text and links are being evaluated for coherence, clarity and usefulness by teachers and senior managers in schools across England, initially by a small group of seven volunteer schools, but then by a much wider population of teachers, senior managers in schools, and teacher educators. One great advantage of a web-based platform is that it is a relatively straightforward matter to update, correct or add material, and our goal is to monitor feedback from users. There are still a number of areas of disagreement in the literacy field, and ultimately the development team has to take editorial responsibility for judging the appropriate scholarly content and pedagogy that should be presented on this site, but our aim is to be responsive to all feedback, and to make the site as valuable as possible for teachers.

Our particular thanks go the seven schools that took part in the first phase of evaluation:

• Pensby Primary CONTACT: KATE BROWN
• Monkhouse Primary CONTACT: CAROL MOULDER
• Willaston CE Primary CONTACT: JULIE CHAMBERS
• St Columba's RC Primary CONTACT: CATHERINE McGRADY
• St Bernadette's Primary CONTACT: CLAIRE MELDRUM
• Ernehale Junior CONTACT: SUSAN SIMMONS
• Firbeck Primary CONTACT: JULIE CHANTREY