Educational Development In Schools

My name is Caroline Hudson. I am a Primary Educational Development Consultant with specialisms in Oracy and Parental Engagement.

With over 30 years’ experience as a Primary school teacher and leader in West Yorkshire, and more recently in Teacher Education at Leeds Beckett University, I am dedicated to developing the chance for ALL children and their families to be the best that they can be.

I am a member of Enlightened Education Leadership, A Teach First Network.

I support schools in Yorkshire & The Humber with:

  • Building Parental Engagement Strategies

  • Building Oracy Strategies

  • Parent support sessions

I would love to come and work with your school - read on to find out more about how I can support you and your families.

Building Parental Engagement Strategies

Empowering your children, your families, your school, your community.

A coherent, high-impact parental engagement strategy is tailored to your community and designed towards self-reliance. I have a wealth of experience in supporting schools to build sustainable strategies that develop their parents’ confidence, skills and knowledge, self-esteem and purpose.

Development package includes:

  • Fact-finding and audit with parents

  • Creation and coaching of initial groups

  • Programme planning

  • Findings report

  • Key questions/recommendations

  • Action plan

Further support includes the development of new groups, funding and succession planning.

Building Oracy Strategies

Helping schools build effective learning through excellent oracy teaching.

As an Oracy Strategy Specialist, I can help you shape a coherent, high-impact plan to develop:

  • Physical speaking skills

  • Processing, clarifying and building ideas

  • Deepening understanding and remembering more

  • Solving academic and social problems effectively

  • Developing and justifying opinions and empathising with others

Get started with clear, actionable support, tailored to your needs.

Start-up package includes:

  • School-wide audit, report and recommendations

  • Half-day action planning session with Oracy Lead

  • Half-day follow-up session

  • 3 x 90-minute CPD sessions for whole school staff

Further support includes the development of next steps, assessment and impact reporting and cross-curricular context.

“Oracy was central to improving outcomes for all children at our school. Caroline’s impact in the short term and over time reflected the quality of her comprehensive and achievable programme. It improved confidence in both staff and pupils and created a culture of communication across the school.”
— Angela Smith, CEO YCPD and former head teacher at Shipley CE Primary School, Bradford.
“Caroline was responsible for the implementation of the Oracy curriculum at our Bradford Primary school. Oracy had been identified as a gap in pupils’ skills. There was no discrete oracy teaching in place and so through collaboration with local schools, she designed the curriculum for the whole school, delivered excellent staff CPD and monitored the impact - providing further staff support as needed. Caroline’s genuine passion for developing the oracy skills of all pupils was unwavering and matched only by her desire to ensure all staff were confident teachers of oracy across the entire curriculum. She has an excellent understanding of the evidence demonstrating the value of speaking and listening on all aspects of learning (and beyond school). I would highly recommend Caroline to deliver a robust and effective oracy programme of study in any education setting.”
— Rosie Eccles - Content Designer in Teacher Education

In-School Parent Support Sessions

As a school, do you find that parents struggle to effectively support their child’s learning at home?

Parents tell me that they often do not understand what’s taught in lesson time, as the methods and expectations are so different to how they were taught.

This often causes ineffective or inaccurate support at home, leading to frustration for pupils, parents and teachers alike. It can knock everyone’s confidence and leads to anxiety and often disengagement.

I offer short courses in schools, for parents to improve their confidence and up-to-date knowledge without your school having to free up valuable teaching time and staff. My courses are designed to complement the work you are doing in class and are tailored to your school’s schemes.

I have recently worked with:

If you would like to find out more about how I can support your school, please email caroline@kitchentableteacher.co.uk, or telephone me on 07915 720699, and I would be very pleased to discuss this with you.