Primary conference 2025: Raising voices, raising literacy

Key conference event details

Date: 27 March 2025, 9.00am - 4.00pm

Tickets: £150

Premium member discount: £25

Lunch and refreshments provided

Registration: Please complete the form at the end of this page.

Venue: Bradford City FC. Location BD8 7DY

Suitable for: Primary practitioners across KS1-3, literacy and English leads within primary and all-through settings (which may include Secondary colleagues), school improvement advisors and local authority leads.

How to book your place

Please book your place using the form at the bottom of this page. Premium members receive a £25 discount.

To obtain your premium membership discount code, or if you have any questions, please contact ruth.king@literacytrust.org.uk.

About the primary conference

We are delighted to launch our next primary practitioner conference. Taking place in Bradford, the 2025 UK City of Culture, our primary conference Raising voices, raising literacy will be a celebration of authentic self-expression.

Oracy is a key driver of the Labour government’s education pledge. We responded with the Creating confident communicators report, laying a roadmap for ensuring that every child – irrespective of their background – is empowered to find, develop and express their voice. At the conference we will continue our examination of spoken communication as a foundation for primary literacy.

Recent research shows that "children’s enjoyment of writing peaks when they start primary school, but steadily declines until they leave secondary school". What are the best ways to reverse this downward trend and nurture children’s creativity, self-expression and mental wellbeing? In line with our work in the Bradford Hub, we will welcome speakers from the world of poetry and academia to offer practical and creative ways to engage a generation of young writers.

At Raising voices, raising literacy we will consider how best to pool our expertise and resources to support young people’s written and spoken communication in the primary classroom.

We hope you will join the conversation.

Confirmed conference speakers:

• Jeffrey Boakye is a writer, speaker, broadcaster and educator with expertise in issues surrounding race, masculinity, education and popular culture. Jeffrey taught English in London and Yorkshire for 15 years and now provides training for educational establishments on race, identity, masculinity and education. He is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Manchester’s Institute for Education, has written eight books including I Heard What You Said (Pan Macmillan, 2023) and Musical Truth (Faber, 2022) and hosts BBC Radio 4’s Add to Playlist.
  
  Being a better host: How teachers can empower identity
  
  Jeffrey will explore why tackling conversations in the primary classroom around social justice is both necessary and empowering. In addition, he will examine ways to support all children to celebrate their identity within the school environment.
  
• A. M. Dassu is an internationally acclaimed author of 13 children’s books, including Boy, Everywhere (Old Barn Books, 2020) and Fight Back (Scholastic, 2022) and Kicked Out (Old Barn Books, 2023) which have collectively been listed for over 55 awards. She is former Deputy Editor, now Advisory Board member of Words & Pictures magazine for children’s writers and illustrators, and a Director of Inclusive Minds, a unique organisation for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality, and accessibility in children’s literature.
  
  Writing yourself into your story:
  
  In her empowering keynote, A. M. Dassu will explore the importance of individuality, using your own voice when reading and writing, and giving children the confidence to write from their own unique perspectives.
  
• Jonny Walker is a children's writer, educator and workshop facilitator. He works across the UK and internationally, teaching children about mythology, nature, writing and poetry. Jonny is passionate about the transformative power of children's chat. He has written a host of books for children, as part of the Harper Collins Big Cat for Little Wandle Fluency series, about nature, mythology and more.
  
  Preach it before you teach it
  
  Jonny will explore how building your love of poetry can boost your confidence in delivering lessons in the classroom.
  
• Maddy Barnes is an experienced primary teacher, senior leader and English advisor who offers bespoke training across the UK and internationally. Maddy is also an established blogger and series editor and author for a Rising Stars and Prim-Ed Publishing. She is a DfE QA proofer for grammar and reading and a KS2 Writing Moderator. She is passionate about "getting it right" for children.
  
  Reading for pleasure - fostering personal responses to reading opportunities whilst guiding pupils to really read
  
  Maddy will explore how high-quality texts can be used for discussion with pupils of all ages by equipping them with skills to share their opinions. She will set out how encouraging a personal response to texts will support pupils to justify their thoughts, evidence their responses and summarise more effectively.
  
  
• James Durran is a Senior Education Advisor at North Yorkshire Council working with both primary and secondary schools. He is an experienced trainer and consultant, focusing on English, literacy and media, as well as general teaching and learning. He provides workshops, CPD courses and consultancy to schools, subject associations, university teacher-training courses and local authorities across the UK and abroad. James has lectured on a PGCE course for Cambridge University, and tutored on MA courses for UCL Institute of Education and the British Film Institute.
  
  Purposeful writing
  
  James will explore the idea of 'purpose' in pupils' writing, and how we can frame written tasks so that they support authenticity, challenge and enjoyment.
  
  
• Matt Goodfellow is an award-winning children's writer, poet, primary school teacher and workshop facilitator. The Final Year (Otter-Barry, 2023) won the CLiPPA Award for Children's Poetry 2024, the Children's Book Award for Older Readers 2024 (Federation of Children's Book Groups), and The Spark! Book Award for Readers 11+, 2024. Matt has performed his work at venues across the UK and beyond including Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre, Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival.
  
  
  
• Wilko Wilkes is a rapper, music producer, and workshop facilitator from Bingley, West Yorkshire. As the founder of the social enterprise Rap for Good, he harnesses the power of creative writing and rap to support young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Since June 2022, Wilko has partnered with schools, educators, and community organisations to deliver inspiring workshops, reaching over 2,000 young people in diverse settings. He is the recipient of the 2024 Wordplay & Flow Award for Best Male Spoken Word Artist.
  
  Rap for Good: Creative writing to inspire young people
  
  Wilko’s session will blend personal storytelling, live performance, and practical insights. He will share his journey of overcoming mental health challenges through music and how this experience motivated him to empower young people by founding Rap for Good.
  
• Goldsmiths 500 Writers: Enhancing writing development from Year 2 to year 4 is a three-year, innovative programme that offers a rich, evidence-informed approach to developing literacy skills across the transition from KS1 to KS2 and across the lower KS2 phase. The programme, providing valuable insights due to its longitudinal approach, will provide training in a unique combination of instructional techniques designed to support the continued development of fluent reading as well as the development of writing voice. Martin Galway, Head of Schools' Programmes and Ki-Li Watkins, Young Writers Project Manager (Bradford), will present on the evolution of the programme, why the area of focus will provide such important insights and how we might use these insights to shape future work in the sector.

Meet our sponsors

Peters is the headline sponsor of our 2025 primary conference and the UK’s leading specialist supplier of children’s books and furniture to schools and public libraries. They’re passionate about inspiring children and young people to read, and their qualified teachers and librarians read and review more than 10,000 newly published children’s books every year. Celebrating their 90th birthday in 2025, Peters work closely with educators, librarians and reading professionals to help get the right books into the hands of the next generation of readers.

Collins publishes accessible and inclusive market-leading resources that support pupils throughout every stage of their school education. Visit us to discover expertly crafted fiction and non-fiction reading books created by renowned authors and illustrators from market-leading brands Collins Big Cat and Barrington Stoke.

Pearson's mission is to instil a lifelong love of learning in children and young people. From their Bug Club Family that addresses the key aspects of the DfE’s Reading Framework – phonics to skilled reading – to Rapid, their intervention for learners working below age-related expectations, they provide teachers with the very best primary resources for Reception to Year 6.

Mrs Wordsmith provides fun ways to boost your pupils’ vocabulary skills. Blend print and digital learning with their narrative journey lessons. A National Literacy Trust study shows 50% vocabulary increase when used it in the classroom, along with our highly engaging Word Tag video game. The platform uses engaging characters to support vocabulary through story and play, and teachers can track students' progress with instant insights.

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