“Marie has delivered multiple training sessions for me on improving boys’ literacy as part of a national support project for the Welsh Government in 2012-13. The post-course evaluations completed by delegates on her events have given Marie the highest possible ratings as a trainer with many qualitative comments about the exceptionally high standard of her delivery and her ability to inspire practitioners.”

Marie Kilgallon has worked in partnership with Durham LA since 2008. In that time she has provided support to Early Years Consultants and has delivered training to consultants as well as to practitioners working directly with children.
Marie has always been a positive force for good and has remained enthusiastic and encouraging in all her work. Her approach is pragmatic and peppered with personal anecdotes that ensure all her advice is rooted in real scenarios, with actual, measurable outcomes. She is proactive in developing resources and training materials that push forward the boundaries of current thinking, but also she is able to respond to specific need and can draw from her experience in schools to enable staff to arrive at useful solutions for their own context.
Marie is a valued colleague and now a treasured friend. She is trustworthy, honest and affirming, but also unafraid to challenge thinking and debate issues. Her understanding of phonological development is far-reaching and the long-term impact of her work on outcomes for children’s reading and writing is substantial. - Barbara Reilly-O’Donnell (Headteacher, St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Aycliffe)

Marie provided us with a fantastic day of training around the teaching and learning of phonics. The day consisted of interactive sessions with high quality materials and ideas for staff to implement in the classroom. The record keeping and tool kit is a must for all practitioners to assist them with their assessment.
She delivered with high professionalism, pace and quality. Her knowledge around this area is phenomenal and staff all felt they had had a great day, where their subject knowledge was increased, and time was given to reflect and improve our own performance. School is very clear about where to take the stages of reading further and fully implement a consistent whole school approach. Marie will be coming back to support our evaluation of impact of our strategies in the Spring term and was excellent value for money. - All staff at Kings Oak Learning Centre, Barnsley

I have worked with Marie for many years now and have always been impressed with her depth of knowledge and the quality of her work. Marie was asked to deliver training in our school recently. The staff immediately warmed to her and her range of experience gave her high credibility with them. She was extremely well prepared and her very clear and passionate delivery both enthused and motivated them. Having discussed our needs with Marie prior to the training she was able to pitch her content exactly right to fully engage all the staff, both teachers and teaching assistants. Marie’s training was the springboard for the subject leader to then continue staff development throughout the year. The result of this has been that staff are very confident in the teaching of writing and our end of Key Stage results have improved significantly. - Anne High (Headteacher Wessington Primary and Day Care).