Tag: Literacy

September 2024 Literacy News

Here is our September 2024 list of Literacy News items from your Falkirk literacy team:

  1. Once you’ve read this update, please browse this refreshed Literacy blog using the page menu at the top and the post selections below. Our digital spaces have been “tidied” to make them as clear, simple and valuable as possible. Thanks to your Literacy Audit responses last year, we’ve added a Literacy Resources section here and are gradually developing our Literacy Microsoft Team too. Further suggestions welcome.
  2. Our updated and streamlined second edition of our Falkirk Literacy Framework will be launched soon. It includes our latest literacy team plan and the visual description of our Falkirk Literacy Networks below.   
  3. Our Falkirk Literacy and English Curriculum Network (FLECN) includes at least one representative from each of our cluster areas. These colleagues act as literacy leads and will share key literacy information with each of their cluster colleagues. They will meet for the first time this session on 12.9.24.
  4. We’ve worked hard to create a diverse menu of literacy and English professional learning for all. Our universal CLPL menu includes a selection of sixteen opportunities listed under the prefix LIT within Falkirk CPD Manager. Our team members are also providing more targeted literacy support through close collaboration with selected schools.
  5. Education Scotland has released another chunk of their Early Reading Resource. These resources, offer valuable support not only for early years practitioners, but for everyone supporting the literacy of our children and young people.
  6. The National Response to Improving Literacy (NRIL) board are almost ready to report their findings to the Scottish Government – more news next time on this.
  7. Yvonne McBlain takes up a 0.5 FTE role as NRIL Development Officer with Education Scotland between October 2024 and March 2025.
  8. Your literacy team are planning to offer a menu of literacy professional learning on the February 2025 in-service day. This is a work in progress, but we are aiming for a menu with options for practitioners working in any sector or setting. Contact us to add to the wish list!

Developing Writing at Larbert Village PS

As part of her Masters in Early Years Pedagogy, Frances McMahon, class teacher, led recent work to develop teaching of writing in Larbert Village PS (LVPS). She and her colleagues in school defined the following aims for this work:

  • to create a shared understanding and ethos of writing across the school
  • to share good practice/engage in professional dialogue
  • to discuss plans for moderation of writing

Frances initially facilitated a collegiate meeting with colleagues to share key information about children’s development of writing. This included: why writing matters, the cognitive load required as children learn transcription and compositional skills, teachers’ responses to children’s written work, and the purposes of writing. Falkirk practitioners can view her presentation in more detail in our Literacy in Falkirk Team here.

Larbert Village PS teachers then explored different approaches to writing which included:

  1. Shared writing: helps to highlight what goes on in a writer’s head, whilst being a partner in the process
  2. Modelling writing: strategic intervention, teacher or peer modelling the process or specifics e.g. sentence structure and punctuation
  3. Guided writing: conferencing 1:1 or small group. Talking to the child about their writing as a reader not an assessor. Scaffolding them to think about the purpose/ audience help them get out what they are trying to say
  4. Building in opportunities for paired and group readings of writing for children to check they have said what they wanted to say
  5. Low stakes writing (less pressure) building to high stakes (more formal pieces of writing with success criteria)

Staff spent time during this session exploring low stakes writing and sharing current writing practice. They then agreed to use the PM Writing framework to structure their teaching of information report writing during a 5 week period so that they could then moderate the resulting pupil evidence together.

On the May in-service day teachers met with stage partners to moderate this evidence and valued seeing the progression of writing for this purpose from primary 1 – 7. The examples shared here are from primary 1, 4 and 7.  Staff used the core and information report writing targets from PM during this moderation process. When reviewing this whole writing initiative, teachers raised issues about the variation in teaching practices used, how each learning experience had been planned and the degree of scaffolding provided for pupils. They recognised that all of these factors affected the validity of their assessment and moderation of children’s evidence of writing.

As a result, next session, they will take quality time to plan their writing lessons and will moderate their planning, teaching and assessment together. Their moderation will focus on a range of pupil evidence and purposes for writing (writing genres). Throughout this work, they will apply their knowledge of the demands of writing development for children. They will build in small changes to their writing teaching practice too.

 

 

Frances and colleagues teaching primary 1 and 2 children in Larbert Village PS have adopted specific pedagogical approaches to support early development of writing.  They build on the use of Helicopter Stories in the nursery by continuing to capture children’s story-making through similar strategies.  Children sit around a delineated space and volunteer to share their improvised narrative tales. They direct fellow pupils in role as their characters to act these out while the teacher scribes the tale. In this way, children build their capacity to create characters, setting, storylines, beginnings, middles and conclusions. Their communication, vocabulary, speech and sequencing skills are all developed in a fun and non-threatening way. These are known as “Stage Stories” in LVPS and each classroom displays these tales to celebrate and share this playful, adult and child-initiated learning.

 

Foundations of Writing is also employed by teachers as a developmentally appropriate adult-directed way to scaffold children’s development of the physical skills and cognitive capacity to write. Teachers using this drawing-based programme initially encourage children to make representative line drawings which they then scribe in writing for each child. These drawings depict not only the way things look to the children, but also less tangible information such as the movement of things being shown.

The teacher gradually initiates or directs children to increasingly detailed drawings/depictions of events and stories. As they draw increasingly complex and detailed lines, shapes, and patterns, children develop the fine motor skills and muscle stamina to make the transition to letter formation. When “telling” their picture/story to the teacher/adult who is scribing for them they understand the symbolic and representative nature of mark-making and begin to connect phonemes and graphemes in a gradual and natural way.

 

Frances and colleagues observe each child’s progress carefully to identify when their letter-formation and blending becomes reliable enough for them to write independently.

To read another post about Foundations of Writing click here.

 

 

 

Literacy and Digital Tools Professional Learning Resources Now Available

Falkirk Literacy Team colleagues and Kerry Abercrombie, DigiLearn Falkirk Support Officer have been co-delivering professional learning about digital tools which support learners’ literacy skills since 2020. We responded to teachers’ requests for guidance on which digital tools might help remove literacy and/or curriculum barriers for their pupils. The training sessions shared digital tools which we felt could be vital to the learning of some children and young people but also valuable to all (helping to close gaps and improve equity). These training sessions have been very well attended and  evaluated by teachers, early years officers and senior leaders across our Forth Valley & West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative (FVWLRIC).

We are delighted to share Kerry’s one-stop-shop link (click on the picture above) and QR code below which leads to the support pages where she has collated the materials from each session . The landing page enables you to learn about digital tools for reading, writing, creating, presenting or for learners with English as an Additional Language.

Each page includes:

  • The Powerpoint slides from the session
  • A recording of the session
  • A description of the digital tools and how they support learners’ literacy
  • Demonstration videos
  • Ideas and suggestions for ways in which the tools can support literacy learning

 

 

Our annual Writing Week – Writing for Pleasure at Bonnybridge Primary School

Writing Week has been an annual event at Bonnybridge for the last four years. It has grown from an idea to encourage children to enjoy writing to a highly anticipated time of year which many of our children look forward to.

Raising attainment in writing was a school improvement priority, so as well as focusing on how we teach writing throughout the year, we wanted to raise the status of writing as something, like reading, which could be done for pleasure. The guiding principles of Writing Week are that pupils have choice over their genre and content, and that they are equipped with the necessary skills to start to see themselves as a novice author who has responsibility for taking their piece of writing through the writer’s process, from an idea, through drafts, editing and revision, to a final published piece.

Writing Week looks different across the school as we have developed the initial idea to suit the age and stage of the children. In P1 and 2, the classes take a storybook approach which fits naturally into our play pedagogy. The children are given opportunities to take part in tasks related to a variety of books which encourage their oral, pictorial and written story-telling skills.

From P3 – P7, the children work to a greater or lesser extent on taking their piece of writing through the writer’s process. Each day of the week is allocated to Ideas and Planning, first draft, editing and revision, final drafts and publication. Idea generation, planning and the first draft are completed using a quick write strategy. We use this method in order to remove any potential transcriptional barriers. The pupils are encouraged to let their ideas flow and if they are unsure of a spelling or choice of vocabulary they ‘circle it out’, meaning that they draw a circle around the word or phrase knowing that they will have the opportunity later in the week to revise and edit their work.

As the week progresses, the writing becomes more deliberate and slows in pace with a focus on accuracy. We have found that reinforcing the concept of a first draft for all age groups has stimulated a shift in attitude towards writing and has helped to remove some of the writing anxiety or writer’s block that some children have experienced in the past.

As the years have progressed, the children have become more and more excited and engaged in writing week and this has had an increasingly positive impact on the attainment in writing throughout the year. The children respond well to having more ownership and choice over their writing and the teachers have enjoyed the opportunity to develop Writing Week within their classrooms using the guiding principles.

This year, many of the teachers identified a need to enhance our publication process and have been developing digital publication using sites such as Canva. Please click to see an example from one of our P2 classes or use the QR code below.

 

 

 

 

Supporting Attainment in Literacy at Stenhousemuir PS – Our use of Read Write Inc

Catharine Gillespie is the raising attainment teacher in Stenhousemuir PS and, with the support of her principal teacher Dawn Easton, she is leading the use of Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI) from primary 1- 4  as a key support for progressing pupils’ reading, writing and spelling. The Read Write Inc Phonics programme is produced by Oxford University Press and Catharine was trained as a reading leader via the Ruth Miskin training programme. All teachers using the programme in Stenhousemuir PS have also been trained and Catharine provides ongoing professional learning and support for them. This training comprises the first three steps of a seven-step RWI programme which also includes:

 

  1. Rigorous assessment, tracking and monitoring
  2. Grouping children for maximum progress based on the above assessment
  3. Making consistent use of teaching strategies and pedagogy which encourages children’s best learning behaviours
  4. Supporting parents and carers so that they can contribute to their child’s progress

What impact on literacy learning is the use of this programme having?

The current primary 5 children at Stenhousemuir have been developing their literacy skills through this programme since primary 1 and there has been significant improvement in their attainment as a result. Most children across the school are on track with their learning with only a small number needing additional interventions to support their learning differences. Catharine notes that more children are achieving more quickly and measures this impact by comparing the attainment of current primary 2 children with those of previous primary 2 classes prior to using the programme. She attributes this impact to:

  1. Close Assessment of children’s progress:

Catharine assesses all children at 6-8 week intervals to determine where they are in their learning. Using the assessment resources within the programme, she identifies the consolidation opportunities and new learning needed then adjusts the groups which the children learn within to provide the correct degree of challenge for them.

2. Grouping of children:

Primary one children experience the programme within the adult-directed literacy element of their learning day. Fred the frog is introduced to children (the character used to engage children) and then used as a focus for structured teaching strategies across the programme. From January the children are grouped across both primary 1 classes and learn their initial sounds visually through the “Fred Talk and Fred Fingers” procedures, rhymes and visual clues. These procedures are taught in primary 1 and are then used consistently by all teachers working with groups across the school. From primary 2 upwards, Catharine groups the children using their assessment information within mixed class groups. She allocates each group to a teacher and a learning space within the school. The Read Write Inc sessions take place during an hour between play time and lunch time Monday to Thursday of each week. Catherine ensures that no child works in a classroom space which is below their actual primary stage.

3. Pedagogy and teaching strategies used:

The initial training guides teachers’ use of interactive, consistent routines for each part of the daily RWI sessions. Catharine and colleagues use these effectively to ensure that ways of working remain familiar and constant so that children can focus on the new learning. Each literacy session includes the Fred talk exploration of the new sound and teachers make this as multi-sensory and accessible as they can through their dialogue and interaction with their group of children. The Fred Fingers strategy involves children pinching their fingers in time with each of the sounds they hear in each word they see and learn. The teachers use flash cards with words which contain each new sound and a selection of review sounds, in a familiar routine with their whole group.

The RWI 1 hour sessions are focussed, with the actual activities  and ways of working changing every 15 minutes or so to support children’s focus and engagement. There is:

  • Always a review of the learning from the previous day’s work,
  • Introduction of the new sound and flash cards as above
  • Review of previously taught sounds
  • Writing of the letters, sounds and words learned
  • 3 readings of the text identified for the group (more detail below)
  • A quiz/differentiated comprehension questions
  • Linked writing opportunities at appropriate levels
  • Proofread and editing tasks
  • Grammar and vocabulary challenges
  • Longer writing tasks which enable children to apply their writing skills more creatively

The children are prepared for reading by learning the decodable and tricky words they will encounter in the story. They have a lively and engaging story introduction which builds enthusiasm for reading the text and puts the story into a context. Then they do paired reading – each child reading it again in turn. When listening to each other, the children use a lollipop stick as a pointer to guide their partner’s reading. After the first read, they have the text read by the teacher to model confident, fluent and expressive reading. Read two develops fluency and read three focusses on comprehension of the text and voice choice to match

The whole philosophy is that children are given every skill they need to be successful in their reading before they begin. As the children progress in their reading, the levels of challenge in vocabulary increase, as does the length of the text.

All of these activities support children’s ability to:

  • de-code the text
  • develop their reading fluency
  • link the phonemes with their corresponding graphemes
  • form the graphemes and
  • use the graphemes correctly when spelling.

The texts also have comprehension questions which increase in quantity and difficulty as children move through the levels of the programme.

The Ruth Miskin training programme includes the specification of pedagogical/classroom management techniques which support children’s learning behaviours and attitudes. These promote a calm, ordered, focused learning environment and familiar routines and ways of working. Teachers at Stenhousemuir PS use these actions rather than their voices to manage the different procedures involved in each literacy lesson. For example, children learn that when the teacher raises their hand this means it’s time to stop what they are doing and listen for instruction. When moving from one activity or group to another, teachers use a 1, 2, 3 finger signal to manage children’s standing, moving and sitting. These techniques have been so successful that they have become adopted throughout the teaching day for all classes.

What do the children think of this literacy learning?

When asked for their opinions of their teachers’ use of this programme children in two learning groups said:

“It’s not hard or easy” gave thumbs up sign with smile “it’s medium.”

“It’s helping me learn.”

“I like the books – they are nice and good. I feel like I am learning all of the words.”

“The lolly stick helps me see all of the words.”

“ I love Read Write Inc because it helps me to read fast.” – P2

“You have to work hard to learn all of the sounds” – P1

“I read my home reading book to my mum and she is proud of me!” – P3

The teachers feel that as the programme moves up through its levels, it supports specific literacy skills and understanding such as children’s knowledge of alternative spellings for similar sounds and their capacity to proof read and edit their writing. Catharine feels that their use of the programme offers their children small, measured steps to success leading to independent working and the ability to apply literacy skills purposefully across the curriculum.

How are teachers adapting and using this programme for their children?

When reviewing their use of RWI, teachers at Stenhousemuir agreed on adaptations to their use of the programme. This included:

  • Adapting the assessments provided to be more focussed
  • Adding in a Fred Star of the Day award to the child who’d engaged, progressed or contributed well to the daily RWI hour
  • Changing the classroom  literacy displays weekly to reflect the learning focus
  • Enabling children to take Fred home for the weekend (a child in each group does this and provides a simple diary insert for Fred’s adventure book).

On Fridays children’s literacy hour happens with their own class in their own room. Teachers use elements of PM Writing to teach varied and creative writing lessons  which enable children to apply the learning they’ve acquired over the previous week.

Ongoing Development and Next Steps

To complement their use of the RWI programme, teachers are also supporting primary 6 and 7 children to catch up on any gaps in their learning by using the RWI Fresh Start programme. Children work in small groups to develop and consolidate their literacy skills, using texts which have a more age appropriate interest level.

Upon seeing the impact of Read Write Inc Phonics in the lower school, the school invested in the Read Write Inc Literacy and Language programme for Primary 4-7 children. This forms part of a language rich curriculum which develops children’s reading and understanding in different genres and builds upon the work done in the phonics programme.

Engaging Parents

It was decided that maximum impact on learning could be gained through the purchase and use of  RWI text collections of home readers and speed sound booklets. In conjunction with information night opportunities for parents and carers, these booklets enable parents and carers to support their child’s reading homework tasks. The home readers are matched with the taught content of the RWI texts used in school to ensure that children will experience success while reading. Similarly, the speed sound books enable parents and carers to engage in fun consolidation of their child’s knowledge of their taught sounds at home.

Parents and carers have been very positive about these developments, but Catharine and colleagues at Stenhousemuir PS now want to build on this initial parental involvement in their children’s literacy. They would love to attract or recruit more parental helpers who can work with children in their learning groups.

In summary, staff use of the Read, Write Inc Phonics programme at Stenhousemuir PS is engaging learners, improving reading attainment and enabling children to progress their literacy skills at an appropriate pace. Catharine would be delighted to speak with colleagues wanting to know more, and an information/sharing opportunity will be scheduled via Falkirk CPD Manager before Easter 2024.

Supporting Pupils’ Literacy Progress at Hallglen PS

Over the past 2 school years, staff at Hallglen PS have developed how they support children with their literacy progress. They have identified a selection of programmes and processes which enable them to tailor interventions to children’s individual needs. Diane Ramage, principal teacher, and Samantha Nash, support for learning teacher have also worked with staff colleagues and children to establish new ways of working. This includes the creation of a new support for learning space and the adoption of a range of literacy materials and activities which their support for learning assistant can use with children.

Which Interventions are being used?

The programmes and interventions being used will be familiar to colleagues, and include:

  • Read, Write Inc Phonics (for p 2-5)
  • Read Write Inc Fresh Start (for P 6 & 7)
  • Reading Recovery Wave 3
  • Nessy
  • Story Club
  • Use of tracking and monitoring data to inform specific intervention plans for children
  • Regular dialogue between class teachers, support for learning teacher, support for learning assistant and school leaders
  • Timetabled blocks of literacy support – 6-8 weeks
  • Liaison with Jude Davies, Support Teacher Specific Learning differences
  • Use of the Falkirk Literacy Pathway

How are these being employed?

Sam began to use Read Write Inc Fresh Start last session to help identified groups of children in primary 5, 6 and 7 to raise their reading attainment and build their confidence in reading. Initially this involved 21 pupils but the group gradually dwindled as more and more children “caught up” with their peers and no longer needed specific support. This programme was so successful that less than a third of this original group of children now require support with their reading.

In response to their observation of this impact on the children involved, Diane and Sam planned how to continue to use the Fresh Start programme with children in primary 6 and 7. In order to intervene earlier, Sam also trialled the Read Write Inc Phonics programme to support children in primary 2 – 5.

Both Read Write Inc programmes are helping children to learn the sounds which they need to read successfully. The children benefit from the use of the programme’s flash cards. These support explicit teaching of the links between the visual form of the letter/sound, its memorable and explanatory rhyme and the repetition and consolidation of the sound itself. The pedagogy employed by Sam and colleagues scaffolds the children’s ability to recall their sounds swiftly as they read – gradually enabling them to both de-code and increase their fluency and confidence.

Children progress through the Fresh Start programme at an appropriate pace and the intense, structured approach is re-engaging children with learning to read and reading to learn. Impact on reading for enjoyment is becoming visible also. This is evidenced by children’s voluntary participation in the Story Club initiative which Sam has started to run at lunchtime once a week. This initiative is an intervention designed to support issues with reading skills at the primary 2 stage.

Children choose to opt into Story Club and each session involves her in reading a story to the children then offering an related activity (currently adult initiated). Twenty eight children came to the first session and numbers remain high at this early stage of this initiative. Sam noted the attendance of one child in particular who, following his use of the Phonics programme, is beginning to master reading. This child previously hated and avoided reading so his choosing to attend Story Club evidences a huge change in his attitude to this essential skill.

Diane, Sam and colleagues regularly analyse their tracking data and other intelligence relating to their learners’ reading and literacy progress. They have instigated a 6 week assessment cycle which informs timetable and menu of support changes every 6 – 8 weeks.  This regular review of where children are enables more accurate selection of interventions for children and more intense, structured support.  In addition school processes enable class teachers to liaise with Sam at any point to explore how best to support their pupils.

Staff at Hallglen PS are also using the Nessy online platform and resources in a number of ways. Primary 6 and 7 pupils at Hallglen access Nessy online learning routinely using their digital devices. Sam noted that this independent, on demand access was not possible for primary 4 and 5 children because they don’t yet have individual devices. She set up 4 iPad word spaces within the Support for Learning classroom and primary 4 and 5 pupils now come regularly to use these independently to support their reading and spelling skill development. Teachers are also making use of individual children’s Nessy spelling targets to support more accurate differentiation of spelling tasks. Staff plan to explore other parts of the Nessy platform to consider further applications which may be valuable for their children.

As part of her To Lead or Not to Lead professional learning, Sam is working with primary 2 teacher colleagues to gather data about the comparative impact of the Read Write Inc Phonics and North Lanarkshire Active Literacy programmes on children’s reading. The outcomes of these studies will inform how these literacy interventions are used to support children’s progress in future.

Review and Next Steps

Diane, Sam and colleagues feel that their support for learning processes and intervention “package” has been transformative for their school and children. They have a “menu” of support which is responsive, pacey and is raising children’s confidence and ability to read. By making use of data, intelligence, professional dialogue, assessment and timetabling in combination with effective pedagogy and programmes, they are raising their children’s attainment in, and enjoyment of reading. They plan to consolidate this focus on reading while integrating development of spelling and writing to extend and enrich their menu of literacy support for their children. Diane, Sam and colleagues are rightly proud of their “package” of support for literacy learning and look forward to continuing its development for the benefit of their children.

 

Antonine PS and their Reading Schools Journey

Setting off on our journey

Antonine Primary School in Falkirk hit the ground running with their Reading Schools journey.  They had a clear idea of their reading culture and opportunities to develop. Prioritising reading and writing was identified through their school improvement planning, so there was a common focus to drive their activities.

After undertaking reading attitudes studies with both learners and staff, Antonine Primary School introduced a Reading Leadership Group with Primary 7 Pupils, teaching staff, the Deputy Head teacher, and a librarian to promote reading for pleasure across the whole school.

‘Being a mini librarian has helped me get better at my alphabet. I loved making the shelf labels to help everyone find books.’

Reading for Pleasure: The Reading Forest

The leadership group’s first task was to design and develop a Reading Forest: environment and mind-set to encourage and support reading for enjoyment, fostering a love of books and elevating their learners’ experience. The Reading Forest involved:

  • Woodland-themed, leafy and tranquil reading areas with forest sounds to evoke the sense of being outdoors
  • TREE (Together Reading Excites Everyone) time
  • An outdoor library

Having the Reading Forest as a core focus allowed learners to play an active part in planning and implementation. It also raised the profile of reading for pleasure through whole-school investment.

‘I like our new library, I can borrow lots of different books.  I like all the books about insects and small animals.”

The leadership group were involved in many administrative tasks throughout this process, such as indexing library stock and creating resources.

Since receiving silver Reading Schools accreditation, Antonine Primary have developed two outdoor reading spaces to provide learners with the opportunity of reading for pleasure during school breaks.

 

Impact on staff

Antonine’s Reading Schools experience was incredibly rewarding for staff. Opportunities arose for them to receive CPD training and become actively involved in the Forth Valley Regional Improvement Collaborative literacy group.

The Reading Forest encouraged free reading time in the classroom and encouraged staff to read too, modelling reading behaviours and supporting learners to find their next great read.  Every week, all learners across the school were invited to read for pleasure through a whole school initiative TREE (Together Reading Excites Everyone), where rainforest music is played through the school tannoy. When they hear this music, all learners pick up their chosen book and enjoy some quiet reading time.  Staff also plan for reading aloud to their class twice per week through Forest Rangers.

‘The children are really enjoying seeing me read during TREE and will often ask what the book is.’

‘My class are constantly checking me for updating my door sign to make sure I have added my new book to this.’

Opportunities were created for more conversations around books using resources like Book Jenga, monthly reading polls, book discovery QR code hunts and building scenes in shoe boxes. This allowed teachers to understand learners’ interests better and find enjoyable and sometimes challenging texts.

Staff also increased their knowledge of contemporary children’s literature by using Scottish Book Trust resources and engaging with programmes such as Authors Live. Activities and resources were actively shared among staff, creating a positive culture for professional development.  We now also have a Star Books display in the staffroom, displaying termly newsletters and suggested contemporary literature for teaching staff to use with the class.  We liaise closely with our local librarian to update this termly.  Similarly, all classes across the school have a Reading Spine box informed by Talk for Writing.  This provides each class teacher with a range of quality literature to explore with their class throughout the session.

Supporting families

By surveying families and learning about their reading habits, Antonine developed a range of opportunities to meet families’ needs, from building networks with the local library service to launching home reading challenges. The gap between home and school was closed, with families engaging in community book hunts and activities on social media, building on rich foundations and helping to foster a love of reading at home as well as at school.

‘It allows us to have some nice quiet family time together. It feels like we are all going off on an adventure together.’

“[I enjoy] hearing my child’s reaction to stories – hearing my child’s progress in their own reading – the opportunity to spend quality time with my child.’

In working towards Gold Accreditation this session, both the Staff Improvement Group and School Library group are taking reading for pleasure into the local community with 3 new initiatives:  Read While you Wait, Read Enroute and a Community exchange library.

Wider impact

Reading Schools helped Antonine Primary cement reading activities and a framework to monitor their progress and success. Termly reading challenges became mainstreamed and linked to the Reading Forest, organising the schools’ reading activities under one framework.

Creating an evaluated driver diagram helped build momentum behind the fantastic work already undertaken while also identifying areas for improvement.  This continues to be an approach we are currently using in aiming towards Gold Reading Schools accreditation.

The programme provided a coherent structure and clear progressive route where all literacy activities would be celebrated and documented, knowing that they would contribute to the school’s wider aims and priorities.  Reading Ambassadors are celebrated weekly at whole school assemblies. What Reading Looks Like at Antonine, a reading policy, has been developed to provide all staff with an overview of all reading for pleasure initiatives that are now embedded across Antonine Primary School.

 

English as an additional language – celebrating and supporting

Over 75 different languages are currently spoken by pupils in Falkirk Council’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Centres and Schools. The EAL team is part of the Additional Support Needs Outreach Service and works with pupils whose first or home language is not English.

Our EAL team support pupils who are enrolling in or who are already attending a Falkirk Council ELC centre/class or school. Their support helps pupils who may be beginners in English or pupils who speak English more fluently but are not achieving their full academic potential. They work with schools and families to meet the needs of learners for whom English is an additional language.

Please visit the EAL team blog page here for more information and support with any queries you may have about teaching and supporting your pupils. All EAL professional learning from CPD Manager is listed on our 2022-23  professional learning menu which you can visit using this link Professional Learning for Literacy and English – Welcome to Falkirk Literacy (glowscotland.org.uk).

 

Kickstart literacy for 2nd level pupils using brilliant NewsWise resources

Slide from Lesson 1 PowerPoint resource

NewsWise is a free, cross-curricular news literacy project for 7-to-11-year-olds across the UK. It is designed to help children develop their critical literacy skills within a real-life Journalist Training School context. The whole unit consists of 15 lessons which allow pupils to develop, consolidate and apply reading, talking and listening and writing skills in an holistic way. The real-life, “world of work” journalism context is an engaging way for teachers to help their second level pupils to understand, critically navigate and report real news. As well as developing most of the main CfE literacy organisers and sub-organisers, it also integrates essential learning within Technologies and Health and Wellbeing (Mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing). Find out more and download this free resource by clicking here. It includes:

  • curriculum-based lesson plans
  • posters and all necessary resources for the lessons
  • exciting school workshops
  • opportunities to speak to real journalists.

NewsWise was funded by Google, and developed by the National Literacy Trust in partnership with the Guardian Foundation and the PSHE Association.

News from our National Literacy Network Meeting June 2022

This blog post shares key information and opportunities from the last National Literacy Network meeting which took place on 8th June 2022.

AGENDA: Welcome
• Love to Read Project – Dr Sarah McGeown
• Break Out Room Discussion -Focus on progression Early through First Level
• ES and Partner Updates
• Future NLN / LECN Dates

Love to Read Project – Dr Sarah McGeown, University of Edinburgh – This is a programme created by researchers, teachers and children to inspire and sustain a love of reading. It draws upon theory, research, children’s insights and teachers’ professional and pedagogical knowledge, expertise and experience. More information about this programme can be found here and it will be freely available from March 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah also shared reading for enjoyment links below:

For teachers/school leaders: McGeown, S., & Wilkinson, K. (2021). Inspiring and sustaining reading for pleasure in children and young people: A guide for teachers and school leaders. UKLA Minibook. Available here:

For children: Connecting with Fictional Characters: The Power of Books. Available here.

The final literacy development shared by Sarah was the Move to Read programme which is a collaborative research project between the University of Edinburgh and schools within Edinburgh City Council. It aims to co-create physically active early literacy activities (P1) which are embodied –  more information here.

Further information about the value of participatory research involving researchers, teachers and pupils can be found in The University of Edinburgh blog here. 

Focus on progression Early through First Level

Education Scotland colleagues shared national pupil attainment data from 2020-21, so that we could examine these as a group. The breakout discussions were used the questions below to explore our theories around why there was a dip at first level across literacy.

  • What are the theories around why the dip happens?
  • What are the challenges to effective learning (P1 – P4)?
  • How do we strengthen understanding of progression through this level?
  • In what ways do we support pedagogy at this level?

ES and Partner Updates

  1. Cabinet Secretary announcement December 2021: National Response to Improving Literacy group (NRIL)
    “Scotland already has the National Response to Improving Mathematics Partnership Board, and we will set up a National Response to Improving Literacy group. Both groups will examine the existing landscape in Scotland and internationally, seeking opportunities to enhance professional learning for teachers and the classroom experiences for young people”
  2. Themes are beginning to emerge from the consultation done so far by the NRIL. These will be developed and shared over the next months.

Future NLN / LECN Dates

LECN (Literacy and English Curriculum Network) meeting 16.6.22 – Gender and Literacy Motivation

The next National Literacy Network meeting takes place on Thursday 15th September 2022