About Move4words

What is Move4words?

·    What you buy: A package of teacher training, either in a local school cluster or at a delegate training course, with DVD, free reading speed test and a licence for your school to use Move4words.

·    What exactly is it?:

Move4words is mainly a physical movement programme, focusing attention on body and eye movement, moving rhythmically, with timing and body coordination. It also includes listening exercises to train auditory attention, breathing training and relaxation.

·    What is on the DVD: The complete Move4words programme is contained on a single DVD, providing 60 individual exercise sessions which make up the 12 week programme of movements. Each day’s session is a routine of 10 exercises which takes 10 - 15 minutes to deliver, and is covered fully with step-by-step videos of child actors. The videos teach gradually more complex movement skills in a clear, day-by-day and week-by-week format.

·    Who it is for: Move4words is an inclusive whole class programme for Years 3 to 6, allowing you to support many children's learning in a very cost-effective way. The main target years are Year 4 and repeating the programme with the same children in the second half of their Year 5 or in the first half of their Year 6. Our evidence suggests that the children gain an extra boost to learning when you repeat the programme with the same children in this way.

·    How to run the programme: Once trained, all you have to do is to play the correct segment from the DVD (e.g., Week 5 Day 4) and help the children follow the video and audio guidance to do the exercises. The manual is deliberately very brief (only 4 pages), as we know you don't have time to wade through page after page! Extra teacher guidance videos are also available on the DVD.

·    Is there any literacy teaching in Move4words?: Reading doesn't come into Move4words, as the aim is to improve attention and awareness, so children can learn more effectively from your lessons. There is no need to add any extra one-to-one intervention with Move4words in addition to what you do now.

·    How do you say it?: It's "Move-for-words", not "Move-forwards".

Move4words: easy for teachers to manage and for children to follow

Here's what Grace Slater, Deputy Headteacher of Orchard Meadow Primary school, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, currently teaching Year 5, said about the programme:

"I worked with children with special needs for a number of years, so I can see the skill with which Move4words has been crafted. The programme is motivating and really easy to follow for both the children and the teacher.

 It is really inclusive, allowing children with learning difficulties to fully engage by cleverly giving them all the clues they need to follow the exercises. At the same time, the programme moves pacily along with no hint of condescension, engaging even the brightest.

It is extremely skilfully done, I can see the wealth of experience behind this programme, and am most impressed."

See more testimonials here

If you've just heard about our new literacy programme, you might not know how it is spelled. It's not Move Forwards, nor Move for words, but Move4words.

What does Move4words do?

Move4words enhances your current literacy strategy, but does not replace it.

We learn through experience, and the only way we gain experience is through information coming into our brain through our senses.

So much sensory information enters our brains, we have to ignore most of it so we can cope without being overwhelmed. Children learn to filter out what is not important for survival early in infancy, but this may lead them to have difficulties focusing on the very things needed for learning in school!

We think Move4words probably helps establish a more appropriate filter in the brain, supporting the learning process.

Improvements in reading are long-lasting, and have been found to transfer into improved exam performance. The programme takes 12 weeks, for 10 to 15 minutes each day, and is done in the classroom, ideally at the start of the school day. It is suitable for Year 3 to Year 7 and above, and the main target years are Years 4 and late in Year 5 or early in Year 6.

The technique has evolved over the past five years, interactively working with Primary and Secondary teachers who have delivered and assessed the effectiveness of the evolving programme, mostly in areas of relative deprivation, where literacy rates are lower than the national average. The key aim is to improve literacy and exam performance through improved concentration and attention.

There is an impressive and robust evidence base (see the results of school trials page for more details) demonstrating that use of the programme brings about significant improvements in reading and examination performance, with long-lasting effects.

What do you buy?

You buy the licence to use the Move4words programme in your school, and training for a number of teachers or teaching assistants, number varies depending on the size of your school.

You can either get a group of local schools together and have a half-day's training, or a twilight session in-house. It's your choice, the price is the same for our introductory offer. Most schools choose the twilight option, as it's easier to fit in the training in your full schedule. Alternatively, book delegates on to one of our delegate courses.

You get DVDs for each KS2 class free with this package. You can't buy the DVDs, because we know that you need to understand fully why the exercises are done the way they are, so the face-to-face training is essential.

You get training, DVDs, cascade training materials to spread the knowledge within your school, a free reading speed test, and  online support.

Click here to find out about our pricing structure.

Phone Dr Elizabeth McClelland on 01865 774909 to discuss your requirements

or use our online Contact us form.