“Chuck has a deep understanding of literacy and shares his knowledge in practical and effective ways. I can 100% recommend any of his literacy programmes – WordLab, AVAILLL, FivePlus and SevenPlus. They target exactly the skills and understandings required to be a good reader and speller but also are presented in easy to follow and appealing materials that busy teachers can quickly take on board. His programmes work.

On top of Chuck’s extensive knowledge and skill set, he is just the easiest and most helpful down to earth person and is a pleasure to work with. Chuck is the person I go to for advice and feedback. He is very generous with his support and knows more about effective literacy teaching than anyone else I know. I have learnt so much from him.

Chuck is deeply committed to the best outcomes for children. Any student or teacher would be very fortunate indeed to work with him.”
Yolanda Soryl, Trainer, teacher and educator

“We have had the pleasure of working with Chuck for the past 3 and half years since becoming Deputy Principals. Chuck has greatly assisted our identified target students who required literacy support.

Chuck is an incredible builder of teacher capacity. In 2016 he designed, introduced and coached our staff on using the WordLab spelling approach, which is currently taught throughout the school. In addition to this Chuck has worked within our Junior team to identify some additional strategies and techniques that can be taught in the literacy programme. This has benefited all our students and the lower achieving students in particular.

We have always found Chuck to be consistently professional and approachable. He possesses a wealth of knowledge in the Literacy area. He has a flair for acknowledging current effective practice and building on from there to achieve best practice, while maintaining the flexibility to meet the individual needs of schools.”Sue Monson and Justin Perriam, Deputy Principals, Ashgrove School

“…I have found that Chuck is never far from an email or telephone and he has answered many questions as our advisor. Chuck has advised us as we have compiled Individual Education Plans with parents and teachers ‘around the table’ trying to unlock how best to meet the literacy needs of a child. Chuck has also directed me towards research and asking the ‘hard’ questions when considering which new resources should enhance our reading interventions. Chuck has also worked with our junior primary who are finding an increasing number of children arriving with underdeveloped oral language vocabulary knowledge, directly affecting the children’s ability to read.

Two aspects stand out for me with Chuck:

• His ability to design down-to-earth, low cost programmes which actually make a difference!
• His mentoring ability with teachers and teacher aides – patient, insightful, diplomatic and accurate!”

Ross Nicholson, S.E.N.Co, Deputy Principal, Head of Primary Rangoria New Life School

“… Chuck has been successful with the development of these reading interventions partly because he is a skilled communicator with adults and students. He works well with groups and individuals. He is passionate about improving the literacy skills of students and is able to communicate this passion and he communicates the interest he has in those he works with.

The AVAILLL programme is another programme that Chuck has developed in the NZ context and it is a very successful, literacy enhancement programme that can be used in a whole class setting or a smaller group situation. The research results are impressive.

WordLab is a school-wide spelling programme which develops a knowledge of language structure, morphology and etymology that allows students to understand their language and it use.

These programmes provide some insight into the strength of Chuck’s literacy knowledge, his knowledge of how children learn and his ability to put his ideas for supporting literacy acquisition into practice.”Rosemary Rankin, Resource Teacher Literacy, West Spreydon School