Keynotes share Sean Connery’s legacy success

Mary Berrill and Hilary Aitken’s names have become synonymous with Sean Connery’s, but not for being Bond girls.

The two pioneering educationalists have featured in recent news about a ground-breaking literacy programme transforming dyslexic learners’ reading ability across Edinburgh schools, thanks to legacy funding from the Hollywood star.

Now the two are sharing insights from the remarkable programme with delegates at Dyslexia Scotland’s upcoming education conference, The Neurodiverse Classroom: Educating all Minds.

The keynote talk will outline how the programme is delivered, the innovative approaches to staff development and deployment and the life-changing differences to learners and their families.

Mary Berrill said, “It is our expectation that teachers who come from across Scotland to hear our talk will begin to think about practice at their own schools and whether there is scope to incorporate any aspects of the work of the Sean Connery Foundation Dyslexia Initiative.

“Within the Sean Connery Foundation Dyslexia Initiative, we are learning what interventions and strategies are successfully deployed to improve learners’ literacy and new approaches to delivering staff development to support dyslexic learners.

We want to communicate the knowledge gained from the Initiative to as many teachers as possible so that these successful approaches can be incorporated in other areas.”

For Hilary, the programme resonates on a personal level. She told us, “As a child I remember struggling with reading and spelling and, at University and now at work, I realise I have to work extra hard to pull my many ideas together. I have a son with dyslexia who has done very well in the education system through his hard work and creativity. Dyslexia Scotland has always done a great job in spreading the word and I am looking forward to supporting this by sharing CECs recent development of practice.”

Mary Berrill and Hilary Aitken will deliver their keynote to the Dyslexia Scotland Education Conference this October.

Tickets are on sale now.