Product reviews for Opening Doors to Quality Writing

As a local authority we have been extremely lucky to have had Bob as a keynote speaker at our popular annual English Good Practice conference where he also led workshops for KS1, KS2 and KS3 based around his first book Opening Doors to Famous Poetry and Prose. As his inputs were so well received he came back for a whole day's training around his second book Opening Doors to Quality Writing: Ideas for writing inspired by great writers for ages 6 to 9.

At the first conference we had invited a school, Lytchett Matravers Primary, to lead a workshop on the work they had already begun to develop in school around Bob's ideas in his first book. It wasn't only the teachers who came to lead the workshop - they brought some children along to talk about their work. They were so inspired by the literary heritage texts that they had been exposed to and were overwhelmed to meet Bob himself - it was an absolute pleasure to see how their attendance at the event impacted on both the other teachers and Bob himself. The quality of the work the children had produced was great and the teachers voiced how the level of attainment of the children had rapidly improved after introducing many of Bob's suggested techniques from the book.

The books provide so many case studies/examples for teachers, who have reported back on how they have helped them to save them time, thus having a positive impact on their work/life balance. Children have risen to the challenges that the literary heritage texts have provided them and produced work of a higher calibre.



With the expectations of the national curriculum being raised, Bob's series of books have really changed the game with regards to the teaching of both reading and writing. The texts that Bob has suggested have very much opened doors for both the learning of children and their teachers alike.