THRASS TWO-DAY CERTIFICATE,
MILTON KEYNES, SEPT 3-4, 2007

Great. Learnt a lot from this course. Great for younger children who are starting foundation stage.

Well presented. Constant reinforcement of key points ensured good understanding of subject and teaching methods. Good inclusion of how the programme relates to KS3. Entertaining. Thought provoking. Know that some points are very important, but they were overstressed at times!

The THRASS course is very helpful and I enjoyed it. The tutor explained everything very well step by step and he made it fun for everyone.

This has been the most valuable and worthwhile INSET training I have ever done. I shall be using this new knowledge with my own family as well as with the children I teach. I shall be encouraging all colleagues past and present to use and train in THRASS. Thank you for such an entertaining and enjoyable and practical course. Brilliant.

Wow! It all makes sense! Thank you for finding something that is a fun way to teach and learn reading and spelling. I’m looking forward to using it in the classroom with all the wonderful resources. It should be made statutory in all schools.

Excellent. An invaluable insight into an engaging and fun way to present phonics to children.

I found the course very interesting and Alan explained it in an easy way to understand. I hope all the schools in Milton Keynes start to teach THRASS.

Learnt an amazing amount! Came over really well. Done in a light hearted way which made easier to take on board. Alan was happy to answer all questions clearly and fully. Am really impressed.

Found the course very informative. Will be using these skills which make a lot of sense to the children. Basic teaching that the children will understand. Very good teaching from Alan.

Very interesting, helpful two days. Useful step by step information.

I have enjoyed this two-day course and found it informative and interesting.

Thank you very much. It has been a complete eye-opener! A lot to take in but do keep reminding myself how simple it all is. A great shame I didn’t know about THRASS sooner! Excellent!

Action packed, quite intense. Lots of good teaching methods. Alan made the two days very interesting and “upbeat”! The day is split well with a good amount of breaks.

Course was very informative, excellent learning curve for me to take and implement with the children I teach. Enjoyed the games and looking at the website ‘Phoneme Machine’. Alan was excellent in his presentation and getting the message across to us these last two days. I think we will benefit from the resources given to us and use THRASS in our practice from now on.

Great presentation. Multi-sensory. Thoroughly enjoyed sessions.

Very informative and has taught me much about phonics and how to teach them. The teaching methods were innovative. Would have been nice to have some practical role play on how to deliver THRASS.

Pacy, informative. Liked the constant reinforcement. Highly visual. Excellent resources.

Clear and precise delivery of THRASS.

Fantastic information. Makes so much sense.

An excellent eye-opening course. It has changed how I will teach my new baby daughter to read.

Thanks for an interesting, motivating and entertaining two days. The course was presented in an extremely professional fashion. Questions from delegates are answered thoroughly. THRASS is clearly a programme that offers enormous benefits to pupils, staff and parents. The course made a lot of what was implicit knowledge explicit, which was empowering as well as teaching me, a lot of new skills and approaches. In my EBSD school I shall implement this programme with three of our new year 7 pupils who are arriving with reading and spelling ages below 7. I can see that those pupils who suffer from chronically low-esteem and little or no academic self-belief will find the structures and ‘security’ offered by the programme enormously beneficial. I will also use the parental support ideas with these new parents when I meet with them at the start of October. It will be interesting to see how these pupils progress in comparison with pupils already in a school designed to develop and improve their literacy skills. If you’re interested in the results let me know. It was hard work but very rewarding. Please thank staff at Oxley Park for their welcome and hospitality.

Very interesting. I’m new to teaching so there was much to learn! Would have liked to have spent more time practising. Could have set homework and test if time too short in class. Feel confident to be able to start. Might have been better to make those at the same school sit together, partly for new people to meet up and to make it easier when allocating resources. Excellent presenter, very knowledgeable.

Hard work. Some aspects covered too quickly, others laboured. Too much preaching. Learned lots I didn’t know before – and many points clarified. Lots to think about learn and practise.

Hard work. Lots of good information. Would have been good to split IT session. Keen to try it in school.

Informative, enjoyed most. Didn’t feel video clips were necessary. [Alan “What! Videos took 15 mins.”]

Very interesting course, hopefully will make more sense once we start using it. I have enjoyed it.

I am looking forward to introducing THRASS to my class.

A brilliant two day course. It has been very useful, as I now feel a lot more confident about teaching spelling, handwriting and reading. To be honest, I will make mistakes but I will learn with the children.

This was a refresher course for me. It has been useful to go over all the information. I have come away with a few new ideas and games I can use in class.
Overall I thought the course was very good. Very informative, lots of inter-action and general teaching ideas which helped me to understand how to use it and it’s potential for using with the children. However, I did feel at times the trainer was a little too forceful with his political views but his enthusiasm was great.

Thanks for an eye opening two days. It all makes sense. There was a lot to take in but I’m sure once I get started it will fall into place. Loads of ideas for getting started, I can’t wait. A fantastic resource with the calendars/software in various languages. It will make the start of learning French so much easier.

The course was very informative, but a lot to take in over the two days. It would have been nice to have been in and observed a lesson with the children. THRASS is everything we ‘just know’ made easy.

Very good course. Alan is an excellent tutor and presenter. Learnt a lot about THRASS and will be using it when the kids return.

Well presented and lots of interaction. Alan was very animated and good fun. Some of it moved along quite fast but I appreciate there was a lot to get through. Would recommend – well done though!

The scheme has some very practical applications and a great deal of common sense – might be difficult to apply to children with MLD’s beyond a certain point. (It would have been useful to see this modelled). The content was rather repetitive and it would have been easier to concentrate for longer if there had been more variety (i.e. modelled lessons/more audio-visual content). Please stop talking about the government! We’re only here to learn how to apply THRASS.

Very useful to me as both a parent and supervisor because now I can relate to the children better and I won’t confuse my children when they need assistance with their homework. I am very grateful for the opportunity to understand the work my kids are doing and to be part of it.

Enjoyable and insightful. I feel well equipped now to tackle phonics with teach children in my class and learn with them!

I enjoyed the course. I am excited about implementing THRASS in my classroom. I think the children will enjoy taking part in THRASS and will be motivated by the fun easy to use resources.

Great course.

Two days spread over a week in order to put THRASS into practice with class. Very good idea/system.

Very good. Interesting ideas to take into the class. May be split between primary/infant and secondary to shorten the length of the course as intensive.

Really good course – makes a lot sense. I really enjoyed the activities. I thought the two days were quite intense and it might have been useful to split them up over a week so we could try some things out in between and provide feedback.

Good.

The course has shown clearly the relationship between phonemes and graphemes and how they “work together”. Very good reinforcement of basic concepts throughout (through question and answer sessions). I feel I could benefit more if there were even more practical (and interactive) activities possibly at the expense of the repeated “ideology”/rationale statement. (I felt it was already well stressed on Day 1).

The course has slotted a lot of things into place. Was useful to see lots of practical activities and also to participate in these. Good reinforcement of key points.

Lively, enthusiastic delivery. A common sense approach. I’m really keen to lose my baggage and get to grips with this to help the children. (I’m sure they will teach me a great deal).

The course was very useful and interesting. I am impressed by the amount of work and effort done to put the method together. The free resources are wonderful and I will definitely use them as I am a French teacher and these kind of visual resources are rare. I will be very interested in using this method when I start working as a NQT.

Fun and informative – great to hear about the developments since last year’s course.

A fantastic course, lively, entertaining and very inspirational. Thank you. I’m looking forward to completing the THRASS Tips e-mail course in the future.

A thought provoking and stimulating two days. We already use this scheme in school and I now have a secure foundation on the philosophy and methodology of THRASS.

Very lively and informative presentation.

An invaluable course teaching me all about THRASS, phonics and other basic skills needed. As a secondary trained teacher this will be invaluable to me, as I have had no previous phonics training. I can also link it nicely to a dyslexia course I recently attended for ten weeks. I will now feel confident in using THRASS. Liked the ongoing assessment of us!



Excellent course, eye-opening approach to learning and teaching. Clear advice and excellent resources.

A very good course. Lots of information but clearly presented.

Inspirational! An excellent course, very clear and concise. Clever in its delivery and although there’s lots to take in, I feel that I have learned enough to be able to implement this tomorrow. My only reservation would be how to teach this to very disaffected youngsters who might find the charts babyish?

Enthusiastic, interesting, original presentation of THRASS course. Very logical course, sensible – I am convinced by its use and application and will certainly use it.

Great two days. Lots to take in but well worth it.

Motivating and interesting. Taught me a lot, which I am eager to try out in the classroom. Split IT input would make it easier to see. Less reference to government advice would be good. We had already bought into THRASS so did not need convincing as much. A good two days.

Good content and lots of information to take in. Some areas were covered too many times whereas other areas were “glossed over”. I have learned a lot about South Africa over the two days. Organisation could have been better – particularly when looking at software and videos.

I found this course to be very informative and as I work with EAL children, it will be a great introduction to the English language for new arrivals. The mind map was demonstrated very well and with a lot of enthusiasm, which will help me remember it.

Lots of energy and enthusiasm in delivery. Sometimes a bit too much repetition on individual points. Anecdotes added interest. Found whole scheme absorbing and interesting. Sometimes ‘selling points’ of programme over emphasised. As time went on was already ‘sold’ on the programme and didn’t need the repetition.

Ideas behind course make sense. I felt at times you shared too many stories and would have benefited from more teaching ideas. Course quite heavy going. More practical participation in the afternoon is needed (like the snap game).

Very thought-provoking – makes you really think. Turns the whole education system on its head. Very political (soapbox) needs to focus on all political views and not just on the current.

Excellent. Enjoyed the music, drama, fun and free resources. Lots of good activities. Very inspiring – don’t know how I taught phonics before. Vote Alan Davies for Prime Minister! (Enjoyed the politics).

I really enjoyed this course. It all made sense! I look forward to using THRASS. It was a shame we would all not see the video clips! Many thanks.

Informative. Still a little confused as how to use THRASS as a reading strategy.

Great presentation. Thoroughly enjoyed. Strongly recommended.

If only all children and teachers were taught this way! I can’t wait to see the impact it will have in our school.

Useful – good intro. to THRASS – will definitely be incorporating it into my teaching and plan to introduce programme to colleagues.

Helpful and eye-opening. Useful teaching methods making learning fun, the idea of games.

Enlightening approach to language skills and developing these in children. Lots to learn in terms of our own awareness of phonics before being confident as a THRASS practitioner.

Lots of information to absorb. Enjoyable. Look forward to putting THRASS into practice. Wish I had discovered it earlier. Will certainly be using it with my own children.

Thank you. If only I had been taught THRASS, I MITE have learnt to spell better. Very good scheme enthusiastically delivered. Excellent subject knowledge.

Enjoyable and informative. It all makes sense – just hope it still does when I start teaching it.

Very interesting and well presented. As a new teaching assistant it has given me a good understanding of the scheme which my school is using. It was very intensive, though, and I’m shattered!

An informative course, as someone new into teaching I look forward to using my THRASS knowledge in class soon. I was pleased with the course approach to High School age children. We were given a multitude of approaches to teach THRASS, regardless of the age of the child.

Fantastic course – very enthusiastic trainer who is good at explaining! I enjoyed all the hands-on practice and basically I can’t believe I am in my ninth year of teaching and have never come across this before. It should be compulsory for all schools!

I have enjoyed the training and learnt a lot. I am looking forward to seeing it in school. I wish all schools in Milton Keynes were “made” to use it.

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