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And as the standards expected of pupils become ever higher, so the need for all those who work with them to ensure their own literacy skills are regularly reviewed and refreshed is increasingly important. There was a time when asking children to practice their multiplication or complete a worksheet headed Life in the 60’s might pass largely unnoticed in the classroom; now, if everyone is doing their job properly, you’re as likely to be called out on such crimes against the English language by Jacob in Y5 as by the staffroom’s resident pedant (you know who we mean). And, irritating though that might be, on the whole it’s probably not a bad thing. A clear, early and supportive focus on accuracy only becomes a real problem if by the time he gets to Y5, Jacob is too busy looking for typos in his library book to get lost in the story, or so keen on cramming 3A sentences and wow words into his latest epic that he forgets it’s supposed to entertain a reader rather than impress an inspector. So, whilst this issue of Teach Reading & Writing offers plenty of features designed to help you hone your GaPS expertise alongside your pupils’ and thus avoid falling foul of Skitt’s law (and has naturally been proofed to within an inch of it’s life* in the hope that we can do likewise) it is also full of ideas to help you engage and inspire learners, and celebrate literacy in all its glorious diversity together, across the curriculum and every day. * Well spotted; we did that for comic affect**, of course. ** We could be here for some time...