Ron has spent the past 40 years teaching in a wide range of learning environments. For the past 14 years he has been the head teacher of Forefield Junior School in Crosby, Liverpool. During this time the school has been twice judged “Outstanding” by OFSTED. The school puts great value on reading. High quality, inspiring texts in a wealth of genres are displayed in the library, corridors and classrooms. There is a whole school approach to engaging and enthusing children in their enjoyment of reading.

Ron has contributed to a variety of educational resources, including those sponsored by Comic Relief, the Football Association, and, most recently, the Sky Rainforest Amazon Week initiative. He worked alongside Jacqueline Wilson, Roger McGough and Phil Redmond to script and judge the DFE Key Stage Two 'Write Here, Write Now' competition which successfully ran for four years. Ron has also contributed as a speaker at national and regional conferences sharing his passion for the use of real books to inspire writing and exemplifying how this can be a successful approach to stimulate and improve learning.

Why did you get involved in Oxford BookMatch? It stemmed from my passionate belief that students who are encouraged and motivated to read for pleasure become more effective, engaged learners.