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

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OutcomeOver the past three years, the achievement of boys has improved significantly andthere is little discernible difference between boys’ and girls’ performance.Meeting the needs of less able pupilsCase study 8BackgroundStaff in a Welsh-medium primary school felt that less-able pupils were not makingenough progress in reading and writing and they needed to do more to support themin gaining these skills.StrategyThey decided to hold weekly staff meetings to discuss the progress of pupils withlearning difficulties. At these meetings, staff share information about these pupils,consider strategies and suggest solutions. For example, in some cases, the wayforward may involve a change of grouping for literacy, amendments to curriculumplanning or referral to outside agencies. The school recognises that some difficultiescan be resolved in the short term and acts quickly in these circumstances for pupils’benefit. Where there are greater challenges because of pupils’ more severedifficulties in literacy, staff determine a clear strategy to help these pupils makeprogress.OutcomeThe school has developed a much more coherent and systematic approach foridentifying and supporting pupils with literacy difficulties. As pupils’ learningdifficulties and progress are reviewed on a very regular basis, their difficulties areoften addressed more quickly. Strategies for supporting pupils’ learning aredeveloped by drawing on the expertise of all staff and support agencies are used wellto help the school respond to pupils’ difficulties.Case study 9BackgroundA secondary school wanted to develop a literacy programme for pupils in Year 7whose achievement did not reach the expected level at the end of key stage 2. Theyknew that these pupils were most at risk of slipping further behind at key stage 3.StrategyPupils are taught in small groups for one lesson each week. Work includes groupreading, spelling and vocabulary, reading for information retrieval, higher orderreading skills and work at word and sentence level in writing. A particularly goodfeature is the close match of the work to pupil’s individual needs. All programmeshave clear objectives and learning targets. The amount of time pupils receive on theprogramme sensibly reduces as they make progress. All staff in the school know thecontent of this literacy support programme and use this information to help pupils intheir subject studies across the curriculum.
OutcomeThe programme helps to secure pupils’ reading and writing skills and gives thembetter access to their subject studies. Over recent years, almost all the pupils on thisprogramme achieved the level expected nationally of 14 year olds by the end of keystage 3.Case study 10BackgroundIn a medium sized secondary school, staff introduced an innovative literacyintervention programme in Year 9 to provide pupils with the opportunity to catch upand consolidate reading and writing skills before GCSE. The programme targetspupils most at risk of underachieving at key stage 4.StrategyThe programme is offered to pupils as a choice from a range of pre-GCSE subjecttasters. Normally, about 60 pupils from a cohort of around 200 choose to do theprogramme. This is a remarkable number given the attractiveness of the alternativesfor pupils.Pupils are taught in small groups of around 10 for two hours each week. The coursecomplements work in English and focuses on higher order reading skills andorganising ideas, length and accuracy in writing. While the intervention programmeis expensive to run because it requires 12 ‘teacher’ lessons a week, the schoolvalues this investment because less able pupils are enabled to do well in range ofsubjects at GCSE.OutcomeA very few pupils leave this school without a qualification.Meeting the needs of more-able and talented pupilsCase study 11BackgroundThe junior section of a primary school recognised that more-able pupils would benefitfrom specialist provision to extend their learning.StrategyMore-able pupils from each year group in key stage 2 attend an ‘Excellence’ class forhalf an hour each week to explore challenging reading texts, including Shakespeare.OutcomeThe ‘Excellence’ class provides pupils with good opportunities to develophigher-order skills of critical analysis and thinking. Their work is mature andperceptive. The work done in this class has inspired pupils to extend the range oftheir own personal reading.
Page 3: ContentsPageIntroduction 1Backgroun
Page 6 and 7: BackgroundBest practice in the read
Page 8 and 9: Best practice in the reading and wr
Page 10 and 11: Teaching and assessmentBest practic
Page 12 and 13: RecommendationsBest practice in the
Page 18 and 19: Curriculum planningBest practice in
Page 22 and 23: 64 Spelling improves when pupils:Be
Page 37 and 38: Planning for developing pupils’ c
Page 39: Case study 6BackgroundIn a Welsh-me
Page 43 and 44: OutcomeThroughout the school, all s
Page 45 and 46: Well-qualified learning staff, incl
Page 47 and 48: Appendix 2: Questions for leaders a
Page 49 and 50: Developing the communication skills
Page 51 and 52: Teaching writing• Is writing taug
Page 53 and 54: • Do staff make comments on pupil
Page 55 and 56: • What kind of writing tasks are
Page 57 and 58: • Do staff with leadership respon
Page 59 and 60: Appendix 3: Standards of achievemen
Page 61 and 62: Table 4Key stage 1: The percentage
Page 63: Table 8Percentage of pupils achievi

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

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