Place-themed literacy workshop: a free CPD series
Do you work in a secondary school? Are you interested in building your skills to create engaging literacy activities that connect with young people through their local area?
Free place-themed literacy workshop CPD series for teachers
Join us for a series of monthly, free teacher CPD workshops exploring how tailoring and theming literacy activities around your local area can increase engagement amongst your secondary school students.
New research from the National Literacy Trust highlights the continued decline in reading and writing for pleasure among children aged 5 to 18. For example, reading enjoyment is at the lowest level seen in 20 years. The drop in reading enjoyment over the last year has been especially steep among primary-aged children and boys, particularly boys aged 11 to 16.
We’re tackling this decline by empowering people from disadvantaged communities and equipping both young people and adults with the literacy skills they need to thrive.
Since 2019, the National Literacy Trust in Birmingham has partnered with the University of Birmingham to deepen our understanding of the powerful connection between literacy and place. Through this research collaboration, we’re investigating how place-based literacy approaches—where activities are themed around the local area—can boost engagement among young people. Our goal is to make literacy more relevant, relatable, and rooted in the communities we serve.
Join us for a series of free online, twilight CPD sessions with the academics and practitioners involved in the place-themed literacy research.
Designed with teachers in mind, these sessions will explore how the projects have been successfully implemented in Birmingham and will provide practical guidance on how you can tailor this approach for your own classroom. These projects have not only helped improve students’ reading and writing skills but have also made learning more meaningful by connecting it to their local community.
About the workshops
Haunted Birmingham
Date: Thursday 23 October
Time: 4-5 pm
Leader: Jimmy Packham
A writing project which asks students to write spooky stories set somewhere near them – to help them to connect to the local area and its history.
Home Words
Date: Thursday 20 November
Time: 4-5 pm
Leader: Dr Bohdan Piasecki
A reading and writing project which asks students to share special words from their home language – and then turns this anthology of diverse words into poetry.
Shakespeare and Me
Date: Thursday 11 December
Time: 4-5 pm
Leader: Dr Kate Rumbold
A speaking and listening project, which uses quotes from Shakespeare (a writer with deep connections to the West Midlands) as springboards for students to tell their own stories.
Relatable Reads
Date: Thursday 15 January
Time: 4-5 pm
Leader: Dr Amy Burge
A reading project which uses texts which represent local people (in this case, female Muslim characters) to better engage and inform students.
A Time for Letters
Date: Thursday 19 February
Time: 4-5 pm
Leader: Drs Emma Marshall and Karen Harvey
A reading and writing project which uses a bank of historic and local letters to connect students to the heritage and pleasures of letter writing.
Story Exchange
Date: Thursday 19 March
Time: 4-5 pm
Leader: Professor Ruth Gilligan
A speaking and listening project which encourages students to share stories about themselves and then tell someone else’s story in the first person – generating deep empathy and community connections.
What is place-themed literacy?
Over six years, in partnership with the University of Birmingham, we’ve been piloting a range of literacy projects themed by:
- Local people and their stories
- Local places and spaces
- Local heritage
In September 2025, the National Literacy Trust and University of Birmingham will publish a pamphlet detailing this place-themed approach to literacy; including six case studies from our work in Birmingham, written by local academics who have been integral to the research and activity on the ground.