Best practice in the reading and writing of pupils aged 7 to 14 ... - Estyn

RecommendationsBest practice in the reading and writing of pupils aged 7 to 14 yearsApril 2008Schools should:R1Consult Appendix 2 and use it to review and improve practice in learning andteaching reading and writing.R2 Continue to raise standards in English and Welsh, particularly at key stage 3,by:• setting clear strategies that improve pupils’ literacy skills;• giving more attention to improving pupils’ writing; and• focusing support on the groups of pupils and individuals who make leastprogress in developing their reading or writing skills.R3Improve curriculum planning to ensure that:• there is balance in the range of literary and non-literary texts that pupils readand write; and• teaching across the whole curriculum develops pupils’ reading and writingskills more effectively.R4Further improve teaching and assessment by:• giving close attention to content, expression and accuracy in reading andwriting;• ensuring that marking, including pupils’ own assessments, uses criteria sothat pupils know how well they are doing and what they should do to improvetheir work; and• setting separate targets for pupils to achieve in reading and writing andtracking pupils’ progress towards reaching them.R5Meet the needs of all pupils by:• intervening as early as possible to help pupils who have problems withreading or writing;• using the most effective teaching strategies to engage all pupils butparticularly boys; and• ensuring that more-able and talented pupils have challenging written tasksand read widely and ambitiously.8