EAST staff hold the view that for a significant number of pupils with social, emotional and behavioural needs (SEBN) this can be a reflection of their anxieties, difficulties and frustrations towards literacy.  Therefore we take a holistic approach to our service provision and offer a range of interventions to promote self-confidence and resilience as well as investing heavily in literacy interventions to ensure all our learners fulfil their individual potential.  This includes targeted direct support via schools’ core allocations, flexible interventions such as Closing the Literacy Gap and the development of a comprehensive bank of literacy resources and support materials for East Ayrshire colleagues to access.

Now well established, EAST delivers targeted literacy interventions at Primary 2, 6 and 7 in an attempt to support schools to close the literacy gap.  Pupils with literacy difficulties are referred at the end of Primary 1 using a collaborative approach between EAST core staff and class teachers for input for CLG (P2) and through screening processes at the end of Primary 6 for a block of targeted input called CLG (transition).  The ultimate aim is to support struggling readers to acquire levels of functional literacy by the end of their primary education.  For those who do not achieve this level by the end of the CLG (trans) intervention, a follow-up programme, CLG+, is delivered to identified pupils in Primary 7.  EAST also introduced a follow-up to the CLG (P2) intervention in January 2016 to support pupils to transfer skills taught during the focused support sessions to learning within the classroom environment and beyond.  This intervention is CLG (P2) extension.