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

Best practice in the reading and writing of pupils aged 7 to 14 yearsApril 200870 Many pupils who make mistakes in written work do so because of uncertainty orcarelessness. Many pupils can self-correct errors of spelling, punctuation andgrammar quickly when they are alerted to a mistake. In the best practice, pupils edittheir work as normal practice. They develop the editing habit by reading each other’swork and helping each other. Some schools have effective spelling ‘buddy’ systemsthat have made pupils more careful writers. Effective staff pick up errors of spelling,punctuation and grammar and deal with them in class or with individuals at regularintervals. Schools that have well planned intervention programmes provide goodadditional support for pupils who have particular difficulties with accuracy in writing.Assessing reading and writing71 The way that staff assess reading and writing has improved steadily over recentyears. Almost all schools use assessment data to track pupils’ progress throughNational Curriculum levels in English and Welsh. Judging pupils’ performanceconsistently against the characteristics of progression is particularly important inplanning the next stage of learning.72 All schools set target levels for pupils to achieve by the end of key stages 2 and 3.However, few schools set separate targets for reading and writing although pupils areoften working at different levels in these aspects. Many schools also set short termtargets for pupils in specific aspects of Welsh or English. A majority of these schoolsreview pupils’ progress towards achieving their target levels at regular intervals. Inthe best practice, they use this information well to provide timely additional supportfor pupils who do not make progress in line with expectations and make it more likelythat these pupils will reach their expected level.73 Many schools are aware that pupils’ writing is not as good as their reading.Sometimes there are good reasons for this. For example, pupils with English orWelsh as an additional language often make faster progress in reading and theirwriting develops more fully at a later stage. However, very few schools useassessment evidence to plan improvements in writing to the same extent as theyplan to improve reading. In most school and subject improvement plans, readingreceives a lot more attention than writing, even where there is evidence thatstandards in writing, particularly among less able pupils, need to improve.74 In the best practice in assessing reading and writing:• assessment criteria are an integral part of planning, teaching, and marking;• there is a whole-school policy for marking writing that staff follow consistentlyand that pupils understand;• pupils know the objectives of activities and tasks and understand what they arelearning in lessons;• oral and written feedback refers specifically to what pupils have achieved andwhat aspects of work they need to improve; and19