Co-ordinated planning to develop pupils’ literacy, numeracy and digital competence skills
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Information about the school
Ysgol Caer Elen is a Welsh-medium 3-16 all age school that was established in the town of Haverfordwest in the south of Pembrokeshire in 2018. There are now 840 pupils on roll. Ninety-three per cent (93%) of pupils come from non-Welsh-speaking homes. The percentage of pupils who receive free school meals is 9.88% on average over the last three years and 13% of pupils are on the additional learning needs (ALN) register. The senior leadership team includes the headteacher, deputy headteacher, assistant headteacher and three senior teachers.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
The school is completely committed to introducing the principles of the Curriculum for Wales successfully, enabling all pupils to reach their full potential academically, socially and personally in a homely Welsh community. The school’s pupils will have a high standard of digital, numeracy and literacy skills that will ensure that they thrive. To fulfil these objectives, there is a continuous focus on creating an effective continuum in terms of promoting the skills across the school. A culture is created where teachers understand their responsibilities in terms of skills development. They ensure that planning, pedagogy, evaluation and assessment at the school help pupils to make progress in the skills.
Description of the nature of the strategy or activity
On a strategic level, developing skills is a priority in the school improvement plan and a priority in the improvement plans of the leaders of the areas of learning and experience. Skills improvement plans have been aligned carefully with other plans to ensure consistency in the way in which leaders act when delivering and assessing skills and that there are clear lines of accountability. Plans include success criteria and regular opportunities to evaluate progress and effect. Skills leaders work purposefully with teachers and support staff to plan strategies jointly that will develop the skills in a co-ordinated manner.
The model for how the school’s professional learning communities act has been structured carefully. It allows teachers and support staff from primary and secondary to work together to develop a robust and shared understanding of the way in which pupils develop their proficiency in the skills from the nursery upwards. As part of the terms of reference of the professional learning communities, staff are required to complete action research based on how to develop the skills effectively. They also conduct joint learning walks and scrutiny processes to understand the learning journey in the context of an all-age school. To ensure consistency, teachers and support staff across the progression steps are also prompted to consider carefully how pedagogy and learning tasks that are applied in the classroom allow each pupils to make progress in the skills.
Evidence and examples of pupils’ work are shared on a special website that has been created specifically for the skills. This resource allows teachers to evaluate provision, share good practice and also develop an understanding of learners’ development and progress in a sophisticated manner. The website also allows teachers to have more autonomy to assess pupils’ progress. The whole-school marking and feedback policy provides teachers with guidance on how to present comments that encourage pupils to reflect on their skills and how to make further progress. Sharing examples of effective feedback is a key element of the policy.
A wide range of qualitative and quantitative data is used intelligently to devise appropriate intervention programmes to provide further support for individuals or groups of pupils. Teachers and support staff follow a timetable that has been drawn up carefully to provide sessions in a manageable and effective manner. The school’s older pupils support the younger pupils during structured mentoring sessions.
Teachers have focused on creating a learning environment across the school that ensures that pupils evaluate their progress in the skills confidently and successfully. Teachers support this process by ensuring that phraseology and guidelines that are associated with appropriate self evaluation are visible in all learning rooms. Learning areas such as a ‘Lloches Llythrennedd’ literacy area, the ‘Den Digidol’ digital area and the ‘Rhanbarth Rhifedd’ numeracy area engage learners’ interest and curiosity. A variety of extra-curricular clubs are provided, such as the Coding Club, Reading Club and Numeracy Club, which provide opportunities for learners to refine and apply their skills in an informal context.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
As a result of the purposeful joint planning, there is a clear continuum in terms of provision for developing skills. Teachers and support staff understand their responsibilities as they focus on developing pupils’ literacy, numeracy and digital skills. The opportunities that the school provides for teachers to observe provision and pedagogy and scrutinise work across the age range ensure that they have a sound understanding of the most effective methods for developing skills. They also have a clear focus in terms of what needs to be done to ensure progress across the school. The learning environment that teachers have created helps to promote the importance and relevance of the skills. Pupils develop their independent learning skills in this environment, alongside their ability to self-evaluate their progress.
Co-ordinated planning means that pupils make good progress across the school in their literacy, numeracy and digital skills. Teachers organise appropriate opportunities to develop pupils’ literacy, numeracy and thinking skills. Very good attention is also given to developing pupils’ digital skills across the school.
How have you shared your good practice?
Skills leaders at Ysgol Caer Elen have been invited to share ideas and good practice with leaders and teachers at cluster level and also with leaders during training sessions organised by the regional education consortium. Leaders have supported skills development at a school-to-school level across the local authorities