More school staff set to benefit from SEN initiative

A scheme that provides materials and specialist support to help school staff and pupils deal with dyslexia in schools has been praised by Ed Balls.

The schools secretary attended a reception in parliament to celebrate the success of the Partnership for Literacy programme, reports politics.co.uk.

Dyslexia Action, the charity behind Partnership for Learning, hopes to extend the scheme in 2010 and will be partnering with a further 14 primary schools this year.

Piloted in two schools in the north-east of England, the pioneering educational initiative has led to improvements among dyslexic pupils.

At the schools taking part, over half of children with reading problems participating showed a significant improvement within months.

"I am delighted that Dyslexia Action is blazing the trail in partnering up with schools to pilot different ways of equipping teachers to support children with their reading and writing," stated Mr Balls.

An investment of £38 million into provision for children with special educational needs (SEN) was announced by the government last year.

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