Ardeer Primary School and nursery class is situated on the Firth of Clyde coastline, very close to the beach, looking across the water to the Island of Arran, near to the small town of Stevenston. There are 151 children on the roll arranged over seven classes. Eighty-five per cent of children live in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) deciles one and two.

The improvement issue

Senior leaders recognised the need to accelerate children's progress in literacy and numeracy and close the poverty related attainment gap through a more strategic approach.

What Ardeer primary school did

Senior leaders identified the need to develop a more strategic approach to help raise attainment in literacy and numeracy. They focussed on developing a strategy that was informed by robust data. Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) helped enhance staffing levels across the school. For example, an additional class teacher and three classroom assistants were appointed, which ensured every class had a full-time classroom assistant. In addition, children have access to a raising attainment teacher and pupil support teacher. This additional capacity helped to form a raising attainment team.

Children now undertake a range of assessments at each stage of their learning journey to help assess progress. This includes class baseline assessments in spelling, writing and mental maths, as well as progress tests in literacy and numeracy and surveys on attitudes to learning. Protected time is allocated to teachers to help analyse data from planned assessments. The headteacher has created data prompts to support teachers with their analysis of data. Teachers review each child’s progress closely and examine results to identify progress and areas for development. As a result, teachers adjust their learning and teaching approaches to better meet children’s individual needs.

Senior leaders meet with teachers termly to discuss tracking and monitoring data on children’s progress in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. This includes information on children’s attendance and participation in school clubs, as well as parental engagement in learning. This data helps senior leaders and staff to build a holistic view of each child’s individual progress. They monitor and draw comparisons between children in different Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) bandings to inform their knowledge of the poverty related attainment gap. Those children on a staged intervention, those who are care-experienced, and those who are subject to child protection measures, as well as gender differences are also considered. All information is considered as part of discussions on individual children’s needs. This helps to identify children who would benefit from targeted interventions, which are delivered by the school’s raising attainment team.

Senior leaders research any new interventions thoroughly before implementation and evaluation of impact is embedded. Staff have access to necessary training to support implementation. Senior leaders support teaching staff and classroom assistants by modelling and sharing learning strategies.

Raising attainment staff create a targeted intervention plan for individual children in partnership with the class teacher, the child and their parents. Interventions are centred around individual children’s need. This may include working with children on a one-to-one basis, small groups or whole-class initiatives or with additional support staff. For example, every class has two teachers and a classroom assistant to provide targeted support during writing lessons. A reading programme has been used very effectively to support children not on track. A talking programme has been used across the school to help develop children’s listening and talking skills. A numeracy programme has been implemented to support children in improving their fluency and mental maths skills.

Nurture groups are used to support children’s emotional wellbeing and readiness to learn. These groups enable children to access an alternative curriculum, learn within a smaller group and develop strategies to support their emotional and social wellbeing needs. Staff use national accredited awards programmes to provide children with opportunities to achieve beyond the formal curriculum. Children attending nurture groups have an individual wellbeing plan, which include personal targets. These targets are informed by assessment of the responses to a strengths and difficulties questionnaire, a wellbeing profile and information provided by the child, parents and other staff in school. Teachers measure progress regularly and adapt targets and wellbeing plans as required.

Staff use pre-and post-assessment information to evidence the impact of interventions on raising individual children’s attainment. Tracking of value-added scores following an intervention also informs progress. This data supports staff to evaluate the impact of interventions in accelerating children’s progress. Senior leaders also use this data to inform the spend of future PEF.

Senior leaders look for patterns and trends within the data to continue to improve children's attainment achievement further. For example:

• tracking meeting data
• raw data from standardised tests and class baseline tests
• children's work
• classroom observations; and
• professional dialogue to examine termly progress as well as year on year performance

What the sustained impact has been

Senior leaders and staff work effectively together to implement a strategic approach to raising attainment. All staff are focused on accelerating the pace of learning to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy. This includes universal approaches and targeted interventions. As a result, almost all children are making very good progress from their prior levels of attainment. School data, including pre-and post-assessments data indicates that these interventions are contributing to children’s accelerated progress and is helping to reduce the poverty-related attainment gap.

Senior leaders use data more regularly to inform planning and measure the effectiveness of the strategies used to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy. Staff are more confident in using a wider range of data to inform their understanding of children’s attainment and wellbeing. As a result, they are more aware of individual children's needs and barriers to learning. Staff have increased confidence to identify those children who would benefit most from targeted interventions.

Senior leaders deploy staff based on evidence of the need for targeted support. Senior leaders monitor and track the impact of interventions very well. This enables them to adapt activities to continue to meet the needs of those children who need it the most.