Literacy Interventions – developing functional literacy “Maximising learning potential through inclusion and support” Work at Twyford CE High School, Acton. Jan Salter, Head of Learning & Inclusion

Strategic Vision Twyford is a school with a very wide ranging student community. A higher than average percentage of the school community have statements of educational needs (bands A – E) and the majority of these are for Specific Learning Difficulties and Communication difficulties, many students having Autistic Spectrum Disorders. In addition to ensuring that statemented students have individualised programmes which match the requirements identified in students’ SEN statements and annual reviews, the school also has a clear policy of early intervention targeted at years 7 & 8. Our strategy aims to equip students to access the main school curriculum as fully as they are able and to pre-empt students becoming disaffected.

Exam Analysis Year 11NoExceededMetUnderVA Statemented9 (8)332+ P321+ LAC2 (1 stat)1 (stat)1+ GCSE – 13 students

Literacy Support Managed by the Literacy Co-ordinator 1-1 Reading years by TAs & Yr.11 reading mentors “Catch-up” Reading “Toe-by-Toe” Year 8 & 9 Literacy groups 7 literacy groups supporting reading comprehension Writing Organisation groups – for students with a level 3 in writing (English KS2 SAT) Spelling groups

Identification of students From testing reading & spelling during the transition day visit KS2 SAT results Groups are set up in July ready for teaching to begin in September Letters are sent to parents inviting them to a Literacy Talk prior to the Year 7 Evening of Welcome

Parental support is valuable Attendance at the Literacy evening is high (taking place an hour before the Year 7 evening of welcome) Parents are given a reading list and a set of helpful hints (part of handout) Letters are always sent to inform parents of group or individual interventions and permission is sought (if there is no reply, it is taken to mean tacit consent)

1:1 Reading Year 10 students apply for the position of reading mentor in May. Students are interviewed by Advanced Literacy TA, who runs the scheme. Students are offered training by the SENCO Students are given a trial in the summer term Students are allocated two days each week and particular students to pair up with Older students gain responsibility; younger students enjoy the relationship of a year 11 reading mentor Students have badges to wear on their blazer and a reward trip the following April – pizza lunch and bowling – in school time

Year 7 Reading Comprehension groups Each Year 7 class has 6 English lessons – one is a reading lesson. The Literacy Coordinator is also an English teacher. She does not teach a Year 7 English group so has these periods available & liaises with teachers about the timing of these lessons. 6 of the 7 groups are taught by her. Instead of a reading lesson, a group of 6-8 students are withdrawn for reading comprehension work at that time. Students are tested in December. If they have made enough progress they graduate from the group. Most students graduate after one year on the programme.

KS3 Nurture provision Managed by the KS3 SENCO Nurture Literacy – takes place instead of MFL in years 7 & 8 (6 lessons per fortnight) ◦ Learning to Listen, language development ◦ Reading Comprehension ◦ Writing development ◦ Talk Time – developing social skills ◦ Enrichment, creative activities

Learning to Listen Good listeners make good learners. Games and exercises where listening is important – to develop listening comprehension skills Main content this year has used classical music, poetry & oral story traditions – to develop writing. For example Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture was used as inspiration for writing about War. “Timothy Winters” was used to listen for rhyme. The students did not have the poem in front of them but still remembered the end rhymes. Next year will incorporate popular music and develop work using stories.

Talk Time Developed by the KS3 SENCO in response to the large numbers of students with communication needs. Aims to help students listen to each other, share ideas, take turns and promote good communication leading to more opportunities fore friendship. Opportunities to share good news – raise self-esteem. To trouble shoot – students can share a problem and help each other to solve it – usually around friendships. Use of role play – social situations Use of Games, turn taking. “Twister” has been surprisingly good even with our ASD students.

Analysis of literacy results over KS3 – Year 9 (June 10) Data based on 176 students. The progress in reading is markedly better than in spelling. This suggests that vocabulary development and the explicit teaching of subject specific vocabulary would be useful. 10:00 is the level needed to independently access a GCSE exam paper and is used as the measure of functional literacy. (LB Ealing sets this at 9:00). 2 yrs 10 months elapsed between the two tests. Spelling 21 students were below 10:00 in spelling on entry. In year 9, 4 students are still below 10:00 (3 have statements of SEN). For the 21 students given intervention the average progress in spelling was 1 yr 9 months. 2 students made 2yrs 10 months or more progress in spelling over the key stage; one made 4yrs, 7months. 58 students made 1 yr 6 months progress or more in spelling and 147 students now have a spelling age above 12.0 Reading 30 students were below 10:00 in reading on entry. In Year 9, 4 students are still below 10:00 (1 has a statement of SEN). For the 30 students given reading intervention the average progress in reading was 3 yrs 5 months; 14 made over 4 yrs progress and one, 6yrs 10 months. 113 students made 2 yrs 10 months or more progress in reading over the key stage & 168 now have reading ages over 12.0.

Interventions for Inclusion Breakfast clubs (10 & 11) Lunchtime clubs ◦ Maths Games (7) ◦ Board games (7) ◦ Year 8 board games (8) Support at break & lunch time ◦ KS3 – Old Chapel, TAs on duty break & lunch ◦ KS4 – A19, TAs on duty at lunch time.