Literacy and Numeracy

Year 7 English and Literacy Catch up

Several strategies were used in 2022-2023 to intervene and support the effective progress of those pupils with low starting points in English at the beginning of Year 7. The Literacy Coordinator, supported by the English department, oversees this work.

Literacy and Interventions

Illuminate Literacy

Using KS2 data, reading age and information collected during primary school visits, two groups of pupils were identified during the first half term to be part of small literacy groups. Pupils’ reading ages improved significantly and those with specific learning needs were able to have targeted support.

Part of the catch-up premium was used to deliver 1-to-1 tuition for pupils identified as having low starting points in English. This was delivered by Sixth Form tutors and overseen by teachers who supported with planning and delivery. 

Sixth Form Literacy support

Pupils in these literacy groups also had a lesson a week working one-to-one with a Sixth Form Literacy Mentor. This has proved a popular Enrichment option for the Sixth Form and feedback from the Literacy Mentors was extremely positive across the year, with many students opting to continue with the option for the whole year. This year pupils were screened using a new model to identify specific literacy difficulties, and a personalised programme of reading and spelling was created for each pupil and delivered by the Literacy Mentor with the support of the Enrichment team. Pupils were screened again towards the end of the year, and all had made significant progress. These sessions had a huge impact on pupil self-esteem and confidence. Pupil Voice research was, again, incredibly positive with all Year 7 pupils finding it a positive experience and all felt it was supporting their reading and writing. This model remains an extremely successful and cost-effective way of delivering a personalised programme of learning to students with the weakest literacy skills. 

Parental support evening

Identified pupils and their parents were invited to an evening delivered by a reading specialist and shows strategies that could be used to support students with their reading. Resources were provided.

Provision for students in Mathematics

We were delighted to offer a range of support opportunities to our Year 7 students who entered our school below age related expectations in Mathematics.  The students benefitted from the following provisions: 

In-school Intervention 

We believe that nothing can replace high quality teaching and for the majority of pupils this will be enough for them to make progress. As such our pupils who most struggle with mathematics are taught in two small groups for all their maths lessons (this year the groups are a maximum of 15) as opposed to withdrawing them from other lessons. They focus on the core skills and informal teacher assessment and this, as well as close working with TAs, allows the teacher to work on filling any gaps these pupils may have in their knowledge. We have found in previous years that this has allowed these pupils to make accelerated progress, in order for them to re-join their peers at various points through Year 7.

Ongoing support 

We hope to continue to support last year’s cohort into Year 8. We intend for Year 8 students to be offered after-school sessions to work with the support of some of our A-Level students. This is to ensure that these students benefit long term and that their progress does not slow.

Oct 2023