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News

On our blog you can read latest news about Catch Up®, training and events, as well as useful articles about helping struggling learners with literacy and numeracy.

18th March 2024 - Summer Term training dates available

Dates for our Summer Term online training courses have now been released to our website, including afternoon session times.

For more details, please visit the 'Find training' page on our website.

Remember that we offer both Literacy and Numeracy interventions, so if you are only using one in your school, next term might be a great time to introduce the other (training discounts are available).


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15th March 2024 - Virtual schools

We have been privileged to work with Norfolk Virtual School to provide bespoke Catch Up® Literacy training designed specifically for foster and kinship carers. This training has allowed the carers to support both reading progress and reading enjoyment for the children in their care.

The Norfolk Virtual School Inclusion and Achievement Adviser has provided us with the following feedback:

‘Catch Up have worked with the virtual school to tailor the intervention to the needs of its participants. Children have found the books used to be engaging and varied and carers have commented on the positive impact that they have seen through the programme.’

We are keen to expand this exciting work and link with other virtual schools, agencies and parent groups to support even more children. If you would like further details please contact us.


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8th March 2024 - Lynne’s logic – Tables!

Numeracy session

Another helpful blog from our lovely Lynne, this time - tables.

Firstly, always expect the unexpected; if you ask your learners to do a calculation without using tables, don’t be surprised if they end up working on the floor!

Now for some serious bits:

  • No, it is not true that all adults knew all their tables by heart when they were at school. They are doing what we always do, looking back with rose-tinted specs!

  • 2s, 5s and 10s tables should come first. But why? It is because they are of most use. We have 2p, 5p and 10p coins. We partition our clocks into 5-minute sections, so use 5s and 10s to tell the time. Also, 2, 5 and 10 will figure prominently on the scales of graphs, but that is probably a chicken and egg situation.

  • Next should be 3s. If a learner can recall 2, 3, 5 and 10 as remembered facts, and understands the commutative law (that 6 x 3 = 3 x 6), then they are well on the way to fluency.

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5th March 2024 - Which comes first – reading or spelling?

Literacy session

In Catch Up® Literacy Assessment 5 (Spelling knowledge), should we test if children can spell words that they couldn’t read in Assessment 2 (Sight word knowledge)?

What Catch Up® recommends is that when carrying out Assessment 5, you should only ask your learner to spell the words that he/she read correctly during Assessment 2: Sight word knowledge (the ‘ticked’ words).
So, for example, a learner who read 18 out of the 40 words on list 2 should only be asked to spell those 18 words (not the whole list).
The assumption is that a learner will not be able to spell a word that they can’t read.


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1st February 2024 - Review and Refresh – Spring Term online sessions

Spring Term 2024 dates are now available for our live online Review and Refresh sessions, for Catch Up® Literacy and Catch Up® Numeracy.

Designed for those who attended Catch Up® training over six months ago and who now have experience of delivering the intervention, the Review and Refresh online session offers you a great opportunity to share how your practice is going, and to get further guidance and advice from a Catch Up® Accredited Trainer (and other trainees!).


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