Taking every opportunity to increase literacy
Information about the school
Kitchener Primary School is a large inner city, multi-cultural primary school close to the centre of Cardiff. The school serves a community that is in the top 10% of most deprived areas in Wales. The proportion of pupils eligible for free meals is 33%, there are high rates of mobility, and the number of languages spoken in the school currently stands at 27 with English as an additional language (EAL) levels at 86%. Bengali and Arabic are the most common languages spoken. Pupil mobility is high, with a significant number of children joining mid-phase. Many of these pupils have little or no English. Around 22% of pupils have additional learning needs.
Context and background to sector-leading practice
Nearly all EAL pupils achieve exceptionally well in their speaking, reading and writing skills regardless of their starting points. The school benefits from a strong team of bilingual support assistants. However, it is not possible for the school to provide for all the languages and so it takes a generic approach to supporting all EAL pupils regardless of their home language.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
The school works in a multi-faceted way to ensure that all pupils who join Kitchener have the best possible opportunities to develop their literacy skills. At the core of this is a curriculum that focuses well on realising the full potential of every opportunity to develop pupils’ oracy skills.
Teachers ensure that learning often starts with a first-hand experience, which serves as a springboard for vocabulary work, and oracy activities that underpin writing. The school is fortunate in that it is within walking distance of many cultural and historical venues in Cardiff and these educational visits provide an exciting context for learning.
All teachers and learning support assistants act as role models for language, using gesture, tone of voice and expression to make an impact.
Teachers never make assumptions, and seize every opportunity to introduce new words in a context that makes it meaningful for pupils – no word is ever wasted. Staff use key visuals effectively to support carefully differentiated activities and pupils are ‘buddied’ so that new arrivals have a strong role model to work with. Story telling is an integral part of the provision. Role-play, hot seating and ‘turn to your partner’ are daily activities that ensure that every pupil is required to speak in every lesson.
A rigorous scheme of work for phonics is in place, and delivered by every member of staff. Leaders ensure that staff receive regular in-depth training so that provision is consistent. Staff track pupil progress half-termly and adapt the groups where appropriate so that the learning moves on quickly. Foundation Phase teachers ensure that they develop pupils’ phonic skills regularly through extended writing opportunities.
The school implements a phonics scheme alongside a programme for literacy, which is very ambitious in terms of the requirements for the application of grammar. Staff teach pupils technical language and provide them with regular, meaningful activities that require them to apply this knowledge.
The monitoring processes focus directly on oracy development, and practice is quality assured to ensure that it is consistent across the school. Performance management objectives link closely to aspects of teaching such as oral feedback to pupils and questioning, which in turn are the focus of lesson observations. The school has adapted its lesson observation pro-forma to encourage staff to record extracts from dialogue between them and pupils and the impact that it has had. Staff track pupil progress half-termly, based on a wide range of data including language acquisition continua. Expectations are high – staff expect nearly all pupils to make two sub levels of progress per year. The school collates pupil profiles for pupils who make significant progress from their starting points but who might not achieve national expectations.
Wrapped around the curriculum is a school ethos that is strong, positive and supportive. Pupil voice is paramount. Adults invest time in building excellent relationships with all pupils that instil confidence and ambition. Pupils talk because they know that someone will listen to them. Extracurricular provision such as storytelling club and debating club give additional opportunities for pupils to practise their oral skills, often performing in front of audiences at high profile events and competitions.
The school has a number of partnerships that support its core aim of developing oracy, including links with families through school based English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes and family after school clubs, where it encourages parents to share their own experiences and cultures.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
Standards in literacy across the school have risen each year for the past three years. The school outperforms family members who have much lower numbers of EAL pupils. Pupils who join the school mid-phase, who might not reach the expected level at the end of Foundation Phase, often go on to achieve at least the expected level at the end of key stage 2. Nearly all pupils who join the school mid-phase make at least two sub-levels of progress within the year – many of these pupils have joined the school with no English.
How have you shared your good practice?
The school has hosted teachers from across Cardiff and from within its school improvement group to observe this practice.
Useful links
Other resources from this provider
Curriculum innovation in primary schools
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