Hello, I’m Gemma Ward

I'm a qualified specialist dyslexia teacher with 18 years of experience teaching children from birth to 9 years of age across a variety of settings.

How can I support your child?

I offer 1:1 specialist teaching from my home-based teaching room in New Romney. My sessions support children who have a diagnosis of dyslexia, those who experience significant difficulties with reading, writing, and language, as well as home-educated students who are just beginning their reading and writing journey.

I focus heavily on the foundational skills required for reading and writing because, when children struggle in these areas, they have often been left behind during the earliest stages of learning. Mastery and secure understanding of the phonics code are essential for developing confidence in reading and writing.

My expertise lies predominantly within Early Years and Key Stage One, where the foundations for learning are established through purposeful, multisensory experiences. I know everyone learns differently, and children with dyslexia require a teaching approach that not all educational settings can fully provide. Specialist knowledge, understanding, teaching methods, and resources are needed to best support a child with dyslexia or literacy difficulties.

In my homely teaching room, I provide calm, supportive, resource-rich lessons tailored to each child’s individual needs. My aim is not only to improve their reading and writing but also to boost their confidence, raise their self-esteem, and make learning fun and enjoyable again.

What I offer

I use the Conquering Literacy Programme developed by Kelly and Phillips (2022), which is a specific multisensory teaching programme. The basic principles involve five features that are designed to promote literacy learning for learners with dyslexia. These are: structured lessons, sequential learning, multisensory teaching, cumulative practice, and overlearning.

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Each session is tailored to every child’s individual needs and interests to ensure they receive the exact support required. Initially, a placement test is carried out to gain a detailed understanding of each child’s current stage in relation to letter and sound knowledge, use of cursive writing, and single-word reading and spelling of consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC) words.

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In some cases, children will also be assessed through dictation for evaluating their understanding of concepts/blends as well as their knowledge and reading ability of multisyllabic words. Once the test has been completed and a detailed report has been written, the child will be placed onto the programme of support, accordingly.

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Each session is recommended to last one hour, although this can be reduced to 45 minutes depending on the individual needs of the child. The number of sessions delivered each week will influence the speed of progress. However, with homework set, parents and carers can continue supporting their child’s learning at home, daily.

See progress

It is also possible, and recommended, that I liaise with other teaching professionals involved with each child, allowing for my specific support recommendations to be shared and implemented within the school setting.

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Recommendations

Gemma worked with a pupil in my Year 3 class who really struggled with reading and writing. Despite lots of interventions, he still couldn’t work independently and needed adult support in every lesson. After working with Gemma, the progress he made was incredible. He started to read and write on his own, using the skills he had learnt in their sessions with real confidence.

Not only did his learning improve, but his self-belief and willingness to have a go in class transformed too. The way Gemma worked with him made something click that nothing else had, and I honestly believe that without her support he wouldn’t have made the progress he has. She has genuinely changed his life, and I can’t recommend her highly enough.

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My Qualifications

2006

CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Education

2011

FdA Early Years Childcare and Education

2013

BA (HON) Early Childhood Studies

2016

QTS – Qualified Teacher Status

2024

Level 5 Certificate in Dyslexia; Literacy, Support and Intervention

Legal requirements

Updated yearly (October)

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

British Dyslexia Association (2024)

ATS – Accredited Teacher Status

Member since 2015

National Education Union (NEU)

Alan Boswell (September)

Teacher’s Liability Insurance

Registered member (September)

Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (Patoss)