A dedicated manager to monitor literacy and numeracy skills development
Information about the school
Ysgol Glan Gele is an infant school in Abergele on the North Wales Coast. There are currently 307 pupils on roll including 63 part-time in the nursery. The school has 11 classes. Approximately 34% of the pupils are eligible for free school meals. This is significantly above the national average of 20%. The local authority looks after a very few pupils.
Baseline assessments indicate that for a significant number of pupils, attainment upon entry is below average. Around 28% of the pupils have additional learning needs: this is slightly above the national average.
Context and background to sector-leading practice
After the introduction of the National Literacy and Numeracy Framework (LNF) the school appointed a senior leader as Progress and Skills Manager. Leaders were keen to ensure that planning for the development of literacy and numeracy skills was given the highest priority, was systematic, consistent and tailored to meet the requirements of the Foundation Phase curriculum.
Planning would need to include pupils with experiences both inside the school and in the well-used outdoor learning environments. Ysgol Glan Gele has an outdoor classroom, Forest School Area including a cabin, art cabin and construction area outside called ‘Diggerland’. The school also accesses the local beach as a learning environment once each week. This ensures the consolidation of literacy and numeracy skills in a wide range of contexts across the whole curriculum. The aim was to seamlessly weave these skills into the school’s medium term and daily planning to ensure direct impact in improving the standards of pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
As a school, individuals worked together in staff and year group meetings to map out the literacy and numeracy skills in their plans. By doing so, they were able to target the content of each theme across the four year-groups to ensure consistency, continuity and progression. Teachers tracked these systematically to ensure in-depth coverage of each skill at least three times per year as well as ensuring that pupils gained general exposure to them in all areas of the curriculum. Teachers also differentiated these skills appropriately in their medium-term plans so that they catered well for the more able pupils and those with additional learning needs. They also recorded the skills in the short-term plans to ensure that they provided appropriate activities for pupils working at a higher and lower level for their age group. Teachers record skill acquisition for individual pupils to ensure that they address any gaps appropriately.
Staff carefully chose the themes to optimise the delivery and coverage of the LNF skills. These themes engage specific gender groups and teachers customise activities within themes to ensure that they cater for gender differences and will interest and inspire pupils.
Pupils contribute to the planning process through ‘Immersion days’ prior to the introduction of a new topic or theme. Pupils spend two days exploring and investigating the new theme and aspects of this theme they wish to develop in more detail. This allows staff to weave in literacy and numeracy skills carefully from the outset using those activities that pupils have themselves identified that will interest and engage them.
Planning for outdoor provision is also included. For example, Beach and Forest Schools incorporates all aspects of the LNF. Staff working within the outdoor provision have a sound understanding of skills progression and optimise every opportunity to consolidate skills in the wider curriculum in the outdoors. For example, recording experiences, making tally charts of eggs laid by the school chickens, noting the temperature on a daily basis, or sorting materials on the beach.
In order to support staff to widen their knowledge and understanding of strategies to use literacy and numeracy across the curriculum and improve individual practice teachers and support staff carried out peer observations within year groups and across year groups. This enabled staff to share best practice within the school as a few were more confident than others in delivering literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. This allowed staff to learn from each other in an informal, non-threatening way. Leaders used staff meetings successfully to share planning, ideas and strategies to use the LNF across the curriculum. As a result, knowledge and confidence across the whole staff in delivering literacy and numeracy across the whole curriculum has improved.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
As a school, staff have planned better quality activities to support and extend pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills. They have also been able to extend the opportunities for pupils of all abilities to use their literacy and numeracy skills successfully across the curriculum in all the learning environments.
Pupils are now able to consistently demonstrate they can transfer these skills confidently across the curriculum and use them successfully to record events, information, analyse data and solve and discuss other problems. As a result, standards of literacy and numeracy across the school have risen because all teachers identify and provide appropriate opportunities for pupils to regularly apply their literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum. The school also now has a more robust system for monitoring pupils’ progress in literacy and numeracy. This allows staff to identify and target any skill areas that are underdeveloped.
Overall, the quality of the literacy and numeracy skills of the school’s Foundation Phase pupils has improved significantly. Standards at the end of the Foundation Phase have risen, with well over a third of the pupils attaining at a higher-than-expected level. Standards amongst pupils eligible for free school meals are also higher than local and national averages.
How have you shared your good practice?
Staff have shared their planning with schools and school leaders from across North Wales and beyond. The school works closely with cluster schools to develop greater consistency in teaching and assessing pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills. Local schools and teacher training providers visit frequently and the school regularly hosts sessions to share its planning and tracking of literacy and numeracy.
Useful links
Other resources from this provider
Using male role models to improve boys’ writing skills
Active and experiential learning - Effective foundation phase practice in delivering literacy and numeracy in Year 1 and Year 2
pdf, 4.57 MB Added 14/12/2017
Leadership and primary school improvement
pdf, 713.08 KB Added 15/09/2016