Literacy news
Pens outlawed for pupils and teachers on 10 October
1 Oct 2012
No Pens Day Wednesday is led by The Communication Trust, a coalition of nearly 50 voluntary organisations including the National Literacy Trust. The day is calling on primary and secondary schools across the UK to put down their pens and pick up language on 10 October 2012.
There are free materials including an activity pack, assembly plans and lesson plans for primary and secondary that reflect the increased focus on embedding speech, language and communication into all subjects.
Schools are being encouraged to run No Pens Day Wednesday activities including podcasting, interactive story-telling, maths games, debating, vocabulary games and talk homework that will highlight the importance of language for learning for pupils and provide a day of 'no marking' for school staff.
No Pens Day Wednesday was originally run as a flagship event of the Hello campaign (national year of communication) last year. The unique event proved popular with 800 schools taking part and leading academics including Professor Andrew Pollard and Jean Gross, formerly Communication Champion, backed the whole-day focus on speaking and listening.
Schools and other interested professionals such as Speech and Language Therapists or Local Authority Leads, can register to receive the No Pens Day Wednesday materials.
