Ruth Baker-Leask Email & Phone Number

As Director of Minerva Learning and former Chair of the National Association for Advisers in English (NAAE), I support schools and organisations with school improvement, leadership development, curriculum design and all aspects of the primary English curriculum. I am an associate consultant for the National Literacy Trust (NLT), an associate teacher with the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) and sit on the Members and Awards Panel for the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA).I have led successful English and Literacy CPD for 20 years. I have worked with a range of schools and organisations (e.g., local authorities, NAAE, NATE, BFI, and NLT), helping raise literacy and English standards and supporting primary curriculum design. I continue to look for creative ways to make learning 'sticky' and to support teachers in developing their subject knowledge to meet the demands of the Primary English Curriculum. One of my latest projects is working with the British Council in South Africa to improve reading comprehension. As the former Principal of Shireland Hall Primary Academy, part of the Elliot Foundation Academies Trust (TEFAT), I worked closely with TEFAT as part of their Development Team, writing, facilitating and delivering high-quality CDP and curriculum conferences to schools nationwide. I have since worked with Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) and the East Midlands Academy Trust (EMAT) as a Curriculum and English Specialist. I was fortunate to be asked to be a member of a DfE working party and consulted on the current National Curriculum for English. Through this, I gained an excellent working knowledge of the curriculum's expectations and have been spreading the love of reading and 'grammar excitement'​ wherever I go.