Trainer biographies

Julia Strong: Promoting speaking and listening in secondary schools

Julia has 25 years' experience teaching in the secondary sector and is an expert on literacy across the curriculum. She has written a number of bestselling books on this subject and on teaching English, including English Frameworking. Julia has provided practical training on literacy across the curriculum for many hundreds of secondary schools and has run training for headteachers and consultants at the request of local authorities. Julia supported Pie Corbett in the development of the Talk for Writing materials for the Primary National Strategy and is currently working with Pie in a range of local authorities on the development of the Talk for Writing approach across the curriculum.

Judy Clark: Talk for Writing training

Judy is a freelance literacy consultant. She has spent the last 12 months as the dedicated Talk for Writing adviser for the National Literacy Trust, working alongside Pie Corbett to develop Talk for Writing in practice and deliver training and consultancy to schools, clusters and local authorities. Other projects have included developing Talk for Writing within a museum and library context, family storytelling and integrating Talk for Writing within a creative curriculum. Initially working for the youth service, Judy then became a very successful primary teacher prior to becoming a local authority literacy consultant, where she has focused on embedding the Talk for Writing approach within whole school practice.

Alison Cooper: Talk for Writing training

Alison is an independent Literacy and School Improvement consultant and trainer. Prior to this, she was a Regional Adviser for primary literacy with the National Strategies and has also worked in a local authority school improvement team. Alison has taught across the primary age range and held senior positions in school. Recent work has included co-writing the National Strategies ‘Talk for Writing’ materials, presenting at national and regional training events, working with school leadership teams and leading inset in schools and local authorities. 

Carol Satterthwaite: Talk for Writing training

Carol is an independent literacy consultant and trainer with many years experience in primary education. She designs and delivers tailor-made support and training for schools and leads communication, language and literacy projects with networks of schools and for local authorities. Prior to this, Carol has been a Reading Recovery teacher, a Better Reading Partnership Advisor and a Senior Literacy Consultant for the Primary National Strategy.  Recent work has included training and supporting schools on the Talk for Writing approach.

Andy Parkinson

Prior to joining the National Literacy Trust team, Communities and Local Areas Manager Andy Parkinson spent the last 10 years working within the fields of community regeneration and economic development. He has also held roles within the NHS as part of the Health Action Zone programme and as a community safety analyst within Northumbria Police.He has considerable experience of working with local authorities across the UK, in particular shaping approaches to narrowing the gap between disadvantaged areas and more affluent areas.

Andy has a track record in supporting public sector transformation, in particular within the library sector where he has led a number of service reviews and strategy development exercises. In 2008 he led the review of cross-authority working as part of the National Year of Reading on behalf of the National Literacy Trust. He also has experience of developing basic skills strategies and reviewing adult and family learning provision at a local authority level.