“Yesterday, yesterday, yesterday, despair, despair, despair. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, hope, hope, hope.”

A ‘wonderful poem’ praised by former school inspector Gervase Phinn, only to be told by the pupil that it was his spelling corrections.

“Literacy is the most important of the three - literacy, numeracy, health and well-being - in Curriculum for Excellence. If you make them literate, you open up learning to them in the way nothing else can.”

Terry Lanagan, head of education, West Dunbartonshire, at this week’s literacy conference held jointly with Children in Scotland.