I am the co-founder and Technical Director of this community interest company that works with government, educators and donors around the world to deliver innovative literacy solutions. Our approach combines the synthetic phonics method with fun, contextually appropriate tools that enable teachers to deliver high quality literacy tuition. We have wide-ranging experience of working with local partners such as universities and small NGOs to build institutional capacity through knowledge and skills transfer. This ensures the long-term sustainability of our work and enables children of all abilities to gain the skills needed to read and write. I currently manage three projects that are supporting 30,000 government primary schools in Nigeria as well as in South Africa and Kenya. I work closely with local teams to help them to mentor teachers, collate data, and solve the challenges they encounter. I also work closely with the educational publisher Jolly Learning Ltd to ensure that the materials that they offer are appropriate to the context and accessible to pupils and teachers alike. I am interested in the technical aspect of synthetic phonics as well as the wider and vital component of speaking, listening and comprehension, and have helped to develop spoken language tools in English and Mother Tongue which are being piloted in Nigeria with positive results.In addition to my project management role, I support staff to manage projects in 8 other Nigerian states, and have provided technical advice on pilot studies in Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nepal. I have also provided Jolly Phonics training in most of these countries in order to closely understand the needs and interests of local teachers and other stakeholders. Our work is driven simply by the desire to help as many children as possible experience the wonder of reading and writing. Through this we believe we can help release a child's infinite potential.www.universallearningsolutions.org

Storyshaping is an oral storytelling tool for young children that encourages collaborative talk, boosts vocabulary, and has been previously offered by National Literacy Trust. Endorsed by Talking Tots and the National Association of Special Educational Needswww.storyshapes.com

I established this charity with my husband Gary Foxcroft in 2007. Together we raised funds to construct and create a school for disadvantaged children in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the Stepping Stones Model School which now caters for more than 200 children. Following this, the charity expanded to provide support to children accused of being 'witches'​ as well as advocating for the rights of abused children across the Niger Delta. During this time we conducted a pilot study into the effectiveness of Jolly Phonics for teaching emergent literacy skills in Akwa Ibom State government schools. The successful pilot led to the charity establishing the 'Read and Write Now' project which has trained teachers in more than 1000 government schools to teach literacy with Jolly Phonics. The project is now in its fifth year, and is now run almost entirely locally. Whilst I no longer work at the charity, I still work on this project as it has now been handed to my current organisation - Universal Learning Solutions (above). Following the success of this project we then trained teachers from all the Primary 1 government schools in Cross River State, Nigeria; this project is still ongoing and once again is approaching sustainability.www.steppingstonesnigeria.org now changed its name to www.safechildafrica.org

Salisbury Primary School, Forest Gate London; The Blake School, Witney; Devonshire Infant School, Blackpool, Marton Primary School, Blackpool