{"id":482316,"date":"2025-10-08T07:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T07:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/482316\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T07:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T07:02:20","slug":"8m-project-aims-to-boost-reading-standards-across-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/482316\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a38m project aims to boost reading standards across Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Children reading<\/p>\n

A major new literacy initiative will be rolled out to schools across Wales after Bangor University secured \u00a38.2 million in funding from the Welsh Government to lead the project.<\/p>\n

The funding, announced by the government today, will support the CAL:ON Cymru project \u2014 short for the Centre for the Advancement of Literacy: research-led Outcomes and Nation-wide change.<\/p>\n

Over the next three years, the project will establish a national centre of excellence for literacy teaching, providing bilingual support, training, and resources for schools in every local authority.<\/p>\n

Through professional learning and new teaching tools, CAL:ON Cymru will help schools strengthen literacy teaching, including systematic phonics instruction, and better identify pupils who need extra help.<\/p>\n

The programme will be delivered through a network of CAL:ON Hub schools, each working in partnership with neighbouring schools to ensure full national coverage.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Training<\/strong><\/p>\n

These hubs will collaborate with Bangor University\u2019s team to develop learning materials and deliver professional training to teachers across Wales.<\/p>\n

The new grant builds on a successful collaboration between Bangor University and the University of York, which has worked with 330 schools over the past four years to deliver evidence-based reading interventions such as Research Informed Literacy with Language (RILL).<\/p>\n

Announcing the investment, Cabinet Secretary for Education Lynne Neagle said literacy remained central to raising educational standards in Wales:<\/p>\n

\u201cLiteracy is key to improving attainment, and we\u2019re already seeing progress. The CAL:ON Cymru centre of excellence will ensure that professional learning is available nationwide and that our expectations for literacy teaching are based on the latest evidence about how children learn to read.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that support for teaching phonics would be embedded throughout the programme, ensuring clear expectations and consistent practice in every school.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Maths programme<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alongside the literacy funding, Ms Neagle also confirmed \u00a32 million for Primed for Success, a national maths professional learning programme for primary schools, and \u00a31.4 million to strengthen digital skills through STEM Learning: Teaching Digital with Confidence.<\/p>\n

The new schemes form part of a \u00a344 million investment announced earlier this year to boost education standards across Wales.<\/p>\n

Professor Manon Jones, from Bangor University\u2019s School of Psychology, welcomed the funding, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are absolutely delighted to be leading this work. Our aim is for Wales to become an international example of excellence in bilingual education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support our Nation today<\/p>\n

For the price of a cup of coffee<\/strong> a month you can help us create an
\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children reading A major new literacy initiative will be rolled out to schools across Wales after Bangor University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-482316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115337268540761027","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}