It is with great sadness I pass on the news of the death of Sir Jim Rose earlier this month.
A former headteacher, which included two inner-city schools, Sir Jim Rose went on to be Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMI) of Primary Education and Director of Inspection for the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). Since retiring from the post in 1999, he has acted as a consultant and independent reviewer of government enquiries. At the request of the Secretary of State for Education, Jim led several independent reviews including a Review of the Teaching of Early Reading (2006), a Review of the Primary Curriculum (2008) and a review of the Identifying and Teaching Students with Dyslexia and other Learning Difficulties (2009). The latter led to the government’s committing £10 million to training specialist dyslexia teachers. He was President of the National Foundation for Education Research and also Chair of the Dyslexia-SpLD Trust.
His ‘Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading (2006) led to the widespread introduction of phonics in the primary curriculum. His continuing work centred around the ‘simple view of reading’ stressing the two important dimensions of reading ‘word recognition’ and decoding has underpinned developing approaches to tackling reading.
He was always sharing articles and research he found interesting keeping his passion for developing reading very much to the fore. He will certainly be missed. He was such a wonderful generous hearted man. Anyone who worked with him will have gained so much from knowing him. He was truly inspirational in his dedication.
Sir Jim's funeral will be held on Friday, 24th March, 12 noon at Guildford Crematorium and afterwards at Hazlemere Museum. If you plan to attend please respond to Jim's daughter, Alison, by email: allijanerose@hotmail.com.
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