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 2008Transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3107 In the last few years, almost all secondary schools and their partner primary schoolshave begun to work more closely to make the curriculum and teaching in Years 6 and7 more seamless. The most common work to improve transition has been theplanning of bridging units of work often in Welsh and English that link work done inyears 6 and 7. This work has helped to improve continuity in pupils’ learning as theytransfer to the next stage of their education.108 Recently, most schools have given a higher priority to achieving continuity inlanguage development. Their work has been in one or more of the follow areas:• curriculum planning;• teaching methods; and• assessment and tracking pupils’ progress.109 This work is also helping to improve arrangements for pupils when they transfer fromthe primary to the secondary phase.110 In the best practice, primary and secondary school staff:• plan common schemes of work in Welsh and English for pupils from the age of7-14;• share information about pupils’ prior achievements and learning needs in readingand writing;• use this information to help teaching to be pitched at the right level and work forpupils to be stretching and challenging;• recognise the importance of continuity in using teaching methods and forms ofclassroom organisation for learning; and• ensure that reading and writing skills are taught consistently in all areas oflearning across the school.111 Case studies 15 and 16 in Appendix 1 provide examples of how two schools haveimproved pupils’ transition in this way.112 Even better schools often omit important aspects of good transitional arrangements.In particular, staff do not share enough first-hand evidence, for example, pupils’reading logs and the best pieces of pupils’ extended written work, which provide asecure starting point for work in reading and writing in Year 7. As a result, many ablepupils in Year 7 are not challenged enough and their progress is too slow. At thesame time, less able pupils do not always get the help they need to consolidate theirreading and writing skills because staff do not know enough about their learningneeds.27