Background

Stornoway Primary School is in the town of Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis. The school has a roll of 353 and 92 children attend the early years setting. There are 30 learners eligible for free school meals or clothing grants. Learners are taught through the mediums of Gaelic and English.

Rationale

Using ACEL data, the school identified a need to focus on raising attainment in writing, specifically for a group of learners who were in receipt of free school meals or supported by pupil equity funding (PEF). As a result, raising attainment in writing at all stages featured on the School Improvement Plan.

The school applied for a grant from the local authority Strategic Equity Fund to employ both an English Medium teacher and a Gaelic Medium teacher for one day a week, over two terms, to provide additional literacy teaching input for an identified group of 46 learners.

The aim of these additional teaching sessions was to develop literacy skills, specifically in writing; enabling learners to make progress towards their expected levels and reduce the poverty-related attainment gap.

Attainment Scotland Funding

Strategic Equity Funding: £5,000 to £14,999

What Stornoway Primary School did

The teachers quickly built positive, trusting relationships with all learners. Spaces in the school were carefully allocated, allowing for a quiet, calm environment, to maximise learning.

Baseline writing assessments were carried out, using the CfE Benchmarks, to identify the exact position for all learners within their CfE levels.

Learners participated in weekly focused 60-minute writing lessons to develop their literacy skills, over a period of 26 weeks. Lessons were planned collegiately with class teachers, based on the needs and interests of all learners. Digital technologies, including smartboards and pupil laptops were used to motivate and engage learners throughout. Lessons were adapted to meet the needs and interests of all learners, taking account of all learning styles.

Learners were supported within the small group sessions to write for a variety of purposes, creating a range of genres over the 26 weeks. They participated in grammar and punctuation lessons and applied these skills when creating texts of their own. Learners developed their ability to peer and self-assess their writing, including self-editing against the set success criteria.

Learners participated in opportunities to explore the reading and writing connection, supporting the development of independent writing pieces.

Impact

Baseline assessments were carried out at the beginning and at the end of the project, demonstrating that all learners made progress within their individual levels.

The ACEL data demonstrated an increase of 6 percentage points (pp) in Gaelic writing attainment and an increase of 10pp in English writing attainment across P1, P4 and P7.

At the start of the project, 33% of the group were on track to achieve their expected levels. After the intervention, this had increased to 56% of pupils on track to achieve - an increase of 23%.

All learners enjoyed participating in the focused writing lessons. They noted that they enjoyed the small group sessions and were motivated to write for a range of real-life purposes.