Effective practice |

Taking multiple approaches to improve literacy and numeracy at secondary school

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Number of pupils
962
Age range
11-18
Date of Inspection
 

Information about the school

Ysgol Bryn Elian is an English medium 11-16 mixed comprehensive on the North Wales coast  in Old Colwyn. There are 962 pupils on roll, including 154 in the sixth form.  20% of the pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas of Wales, and 21% of pupils are entitled to free school meals.

The school receives pupils from across the ability range with around 27% of pupils having additional learning needs.

The school’s motto of ‘Achievement for All’ is evident throughout our work, from the daily interractions between staff, pupils and parents to the ethos of the school, as seen in our planning, priorities and outcomes.

Context and background to sector-leading practice

The current leadership team took up post in 2008 and introduced a commitment to the development of literacy skills called all@ybe.  This programme is being strengthened each year and has been widened to embrace numeracy development and thinking skills across the curriculum.

All teachers are encouraged to be good role models for literacy developments and to plan for literacy as a fundamental learning experience within all lessons.

Policies and practices are aligned with the Professional Teaching Standards which state teachers must: “Have high expectations of children and young people in order to improve outcomes and well-being for all learners…..Understand the national education policy context in Wales and the Welsh Government’s national priorities for education…….Understand their role in improving literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum.”

The school’s curriculum is constantly reviewed and evaluated to meet the needs of our children.  It is a diverse and bespoke model, that has positively impacted on pupils’ attendance, engagement and attainment.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Initiatives within the programme include:

  • The Year 7 BEES programme (Bryn Elian Enrichment Skills) which teaches a range of literacy, thinking and numeracy skills for 100 minutes weekly, based around topics and themes
  • Pilot of a Headsprouts literacy intervention project within a controlled research- based project with PHD students from Bangor University
  • Whole School Priority meetings that focus on literacy, or numeracy and look to develop and share current good practice across subject areas
  • Whole-school INSET on pedagogy, run by internationally acclaimed educational experts, to keep the focus on the art of teaching and to promote a culture of innovative practice across our staff
  • ‘Market place’ events as INSET for whole staff who run twilight sessions to showcase their best practice in thinking, literacy and numeracy
  • The development of eleven Literacy Targets that are an integral part of our approach to marking and feedback, focussing on eleven common areas for learning across all subject areas.  These can be found in all books and all planners and result in errors being identified for pupils to focus on through specific tasks
  • A valuable project with primary collegues exemplifying a strand of the Literacy and Numeracy Framework through from Foundation to Year 9, focussing on planning for literacy development, the art of teaching literacy skills, assessment and evaluation of outcome
  • A calendar of monthly literacy themes, for use in all classrooms, to encourage a focussed approach across subject areas on shared learning
  • Setting Year 7 four weeks after entry based on numeracy or literacy ability, in appropriately banded subject clusters.

Further to this, the school’s curriculum is frequently reviewed to ensure it suits the needs of learners and maximises their opportunities.

In both Key Stages 3 and 4, time for English and Mathematics has been increased, to incorporate numeracy and literacy lessons across Key Stage 3, with dedicated skills development lessons in Year 7 also.

In Key Stage 4, an open options system is supported by assemblies for pupils to explain the requirements and opportunities within new subject areas, individual interviews with senior staff in order to discuss aspirations, strengths and how to make decisions, as well as presentations to parents.  Each pupil’s curriculum choice is scrutinised for suitability with external agencies supporting the offer- we work with other local schools, the 14-19 Network, the local college and work-based providers in order to ensure a pupil’s core curriculum is supplemented appropriately by option choices.

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

The work that we are doing to constantly improve our pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills, and to develop a responsive curriculum has a direct impact on a number of key areas:

  • Pupils’ enjoyment of learning which is greater due to improved confidence that they have the tools to access learning
  • Pupils’ ability to develop greater independence as learners, as can be seen through their use of thinking maps as learning tools to analyse and evaluate
  • Schemes of work across all departments that plan effectively for the teaching, assessment and evaluation of literacy and numeracy skills in outcomes,
  • An improved provision for the LNF, by which elements are now part of departmental schemes of work in a way that is appropriate, relevant and useful to a pupil’s progression
  • Feedback to pupils that is more aligned with their literacy and numeracy skill development across all subjects, fully integrated with marking of subject content
  • Frequent book scrutinies that lead to close feedback to staff and exemplars of good practice are collated, which have been widely shared, eg through GWE support activities, with other schools
  • Improved outcomes in national tests, Level 1 and Level 2 outcomes, as well as excellent results in Key and Essential Skills and the Welsh Baccalaureate at all levels.

How have you shared your good practice?

We have worked closely with other schools through Schools Challenge Cymru and the Lead and Emerging Practitioners Programme, to share our policies and practices.

Our work on Thinking Maps, leading to becoming accredited in 2013 as a Thinking School, which is fully embedded in support of developing literacy and numeracy, has been shared with our local primary colleagues through INSET, as has our approach to planning for the LNF. We frequently present at regional and national events to share our practice and schools frequently visit us to look at our models for delivery.  We have also worked closely with primary feeders to develop and share approaches to literacy and numeracy within the curriculum.  The region recently utilised a booklet of exemplar material for best practice in assessment with other schools. Also, we secured Professor David Hyrle as a keynote speaker in an event we organised with GWE to share good practice especially with regard to Thinking Skills.  Finally, we organised and led a Showcasing Good Practice conference with our family of schools, which we structured around our work on school improvement pertaining to curriculum and skills models.

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