The Falkirk Children’s Services Literacy and English Team consists of the following people:
Carol Turnbull, Team Manager – my role is to:
- Lead the literacy team
- Provide strategic literacy leadership across the authority
Susan Thomson, Team Manager – my role is to:
- Support the literacy team with moderation and assessment
- Link to numeracy across Falkirk
Yvonne Manning, Principal Librarian – I manage the Learning Resource Service which provides resources, information and advice to all educational establishments and partner services in Falkirk Council. I am the Bookbug co-ordinator, the contact for the Read Write Count initiative and represent Falkirk Council on the Reading Schools Accreditation programme. I am passionate about reading for enjoyment and creating a reading culture. I enjoy visiting ELCCs, nurseries and primary schools to share stories and hopefully create excitement around books and reading.
Yvonne McBlain, Education Support Officer – my role in this team is to liaise with others to create policy, gather good practice, analyse and present literacy data, support schools, centres and practitioners and source valuable professional learning. I represent our authority at National Literacy Network meetings, working with colleagues from other authorities and from Education Scotland. I have also represented our regional collaborative on the board of the National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) since February 2023.
Heather McManus, Visiting Teacher of Literacy Support, Seconded – I am currently on secondment as visiting teacher- literacy support within the Scottish Equity Fund Team. My remit within this team is to gather information on, and trial strategies and interventions that have a strong evidence base for raising attainment in literacy and reducing the poverty related attainment gap. I also work closely with the Central Literacy Team to support literacy development work across the authority.
Judith Davies, Specific Learning Differences Support Teacher 
Louise Amos, Specific Learning Differences Support Teacher
Ursula Busch, English as an Additional Language Support Teacher – I work with pupils for whom English is a barrier to learning. I also help schools and colleagues to support pupils for whom English is an additional language. I also promote language awareness and the importance of home languages.
Maggie Burns, Librarian, Learning Resource Service – I am the librarian at the Learning Resource Service, responsible for developing the wonderful collections of resources available to our early years settings and schools, I organise and lead the popular Falkirk Teachers’ Book Group that meets every month and I enjoy transforming school libraries into vibrant, stimulating learning spaces. My passion is working with pupils and helping them to discover a love of reading, getting each child and young person the right book at the right time.
Secondary School Librarians – In Falkirk Council there is a school librarian in each secondary school providing support for learning by enabling access to an organised, relevant and nurturing library , offering quality experiences for learners. Please click here for more information about the School Librarian team.
