1111 Strategic Goal 1 - Literacy - 1 November 2011

KAIKOHE EAST SCHOOL

Literacy Report  

November 2011

Goal 1 (literacy)  By the end of the year at least 80% of year 6 children will be reading at or above the school reading age target of PM level 27 – 28 (10 – 11 year reading age)

Rationale

·         In 2010 our goal was to achieve 66% at or above our school expectations. As we achieved this with room to spare in 2010, we raised the bar for this year

·         As in 2010 we have chosen year 6 because we are aware that, at entry, many of our pupils have limited language skills and few have pre school education. By the end of the 6th year, however, we believe we can overcome the earlier setbacks and attain levels comparable to national averages.

·         We are aware that the school must now report against National Standards and this will be covered in the Variance Report at the end of the year however our school expectations in reading are pretty much the same as the National Standards as shown on the graphs.

·         We have included data relating to year 4 pupils as well as year 6 so we can make comparisons.

What happened.

·         This year we moved away from having a senior syndicate and a junior syndicate and formed, instead, curriculum teams. The literacy team which consists of Graeme, Rebecca, Robin and Joy meet each fortnight for about an hour and a half. The team’s tasks are to:

o        Identify pupils in need of help

o        Identify areas that need strengthening

o        Spend the budget wisely

o        Organise professional development, moderation and referrals to specialists

o        Act as advisors if asked.

o        Collate and analyse data.

·         ICT Action Plans focused on Literacy and phonetic and early reading programmes such as “Reading Egg” and “Word Shark” were purchased and set up in classes where a pupil or group of underachieving pupils were identified.

·         Room 12 trialled Avail which is a video based comprehension development programme. In term 4 two other rooms began to use the programme. We await comprehension test results to confirm anecdotal evidence that the programme if effective in raising comprehension levels in higher (year 5-6) classes.

·         Three staff attended a Sheena Cameron course on developing reading comprehension early in the year and reported back to the staff at a staff meeting. Books were purchased.

·         PM writing books were purchased. These were purchased when moderation of writing samples showed that our writing was fairly accurate but boring. In other words we are doing OK at teaching surface features but not the deeper features.

·         25 children considered most in need of support were identified from data collected on eTap. Our RTLit has returned this term and we are in the process of referring those pupils to her for extra assistance. So far we have referred 8 pupils.

Monitoring and reporting.

·         Not all pupils are covered by this report but all will be reported on in the variance report.

·         We have only used results for pupils for whom we have term 1 and term 3 data. This means pupils who have arrived during the year or have left during the year are not covered.

·         As well as that, not all term 3 results had been entered onto eTap by the end of term.

·         This report therefore covers results from 15 of 31 year4 pupils (50%) and 20 of 41 year 6 pupils (50%)

·         For these year 4 pupils, the average reading level in term 1 was 14.4 and by term 3 this had progressed to 18.5. The average year 4 pupil has progressed 4 levels.

·         For these year 6 pupils, the average reading level in term 1 was 23.4 and by term 3 this had progressed to 26.9. The average year 6 pupil has progressed 3.5 levels.

·         Children very close to the expectations will probably reach them by the end of year.