Welcome to Nitty Gritty Learning
About Us
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Lynda Kempsey has twenty three years experience as a successful English teacher across Darlington, Durham, Cumbria and Derbyshire, fourteen of these as Head of English and Literacy Coordinator in secondary schools. As well as teaching, she is a training provider for staff wishing to raise achievement in English or across the curriculum through Literacy and Functional Skills. She is passionate about teaching and learning and it is this streak of madness that led her to the decision to set up Nitty Gritty Learning in September 2008. In July 2009, Lynda was a finalist in the Wear Valley and Teesdale Business Awards in the Start Up Business Category for recognition of clients' needs.
Within English, as well as raising achievement across the ability range, she has mentored colleagues as the curriculum has developed, then redeveloped, and redeveloped…and kept up her own training by attending the latest teaching and learning events, thinking up and testing a few strategies of her own and marking for major exam boards. She has a Masters Degree in teaching English and Literature with distinctions for work on raising the achievement of boys, creating home-school reading schemes and devising strategies for writing like a discerning expert about texts across many genres, old and new. An in depth knowledge of assessment criteria for Key Stages 3 and 4 and her repertoire of intervention strategies have helped to maximise results.She has also provided effective and inspiring Literacy training for use across the curriculum within her own school and for others, including teacher training establishments.
Currently, several partner schools are working with Nitty Gritty Learning's research into learning technologies. Nitty Gritty's aim is to provide exciting and attractive digital learning and revision resources to raise achievement in English and Literacy...so watch this space!
She is also devising approaches for tackling the spoken language study; the controlled assessments and ways of ensuring effective assessment for learning in spite of changes to mark schemes from September 2010. TAs, Senior Leaders and Link Governors are also welcome to join in with training, whether in house or at our venues in Durham City.
In order to share ideas with as many teachers and pupils as possible, she has also established “The Nitty Gritty”, an e-newsletter aimed at sharing learning tips, inspirational ideas and publicising creative talent. The newsletter is issued three times over the academic year. You can subscribe through the “News” link on our website. Subscriptions are free.