Excellence Awards

15th October 2013 - Catch Up® Excellence Awards: Ysgol yr Eos, Rhondda Cynon Taf - BRONZE award winner (Catch Up® Literacy)

Organisation: Ysgol Yr Eos
Intervention: Catch Up® Literacy
Submitted by: Dianne Caller

Background
Ysgol Yr Eos, the school of the nightingale, is new and located on an elevated position overlooking the small town of Penygraig in the Rhondda Fawr. It is a school for boys and girls between the ages of three and eleven years old. The full range of ability is represented in the school’s intake with 98.7% of our pupils from English speaking backgrounds.

We have five teaching staff including the Head teacher, one HLTA and seven teacher’s aids. We also have a very experienced and invaluable school clerk who helps ensure we obtain good value for money and an excellent caretaker who maintains the school to a very high standard.

Ysgol Yr Eos is a happy place to be and children and staff are well motivated and successful.

Implementation
In 2004, Catch Up® was prioritised on the School Development Plan, and discussed with all stakeholders, including school governors.

Following LA Catch Up® training and once pupils had been selected, parents were invited to school for an information gathering session. Catch Up® workshops now feature regularly as a part of school life. Parents and carers receive regular updates on their child’s progress throughout the programme.

At the end of every year, an Award Assembly takes place and success is celebrated with all of the Catch Up® pupils.

Catch Up® timetables are discussed with the Head teacher, class teacher and Intervention Manager. Two sessions per week are allocated for pupils in Year 2 to Year 6.

Pupils are initially selected on the basis of their NGRT results and the Salford Reading Test Progress is monitored every term and communicated to staff, pupils and parents.

An Intervention Manager was appointed to manage the programme and further staff trained to deliver the Catch Up® sessions. CPD is given throughout the year.

Case Study 1 - Catch Up® Literacy
Child A is a popular girl who always tries her best and is eager to please. In Year 5, her Reading Age was 7 years 1 month so she was 27 months behind. When she started Catch Up® Literacy, her reading was stilted and she stumbled over many words. She lacked confidence and needed a lot of encouragement to sound out words and to blend. Her higher order reading skills were well developed but not her decoding ability. Progress was made almost immediately; she became able to self-correct and attempt tricky words. After 5 months, she had made 12 months gain in her Reading Age and her confidence was definitely improving. She expressed feelings of relief and said that it had “taken away her fear of reading aloud”.

By the end of Year 5, her Reading Age had progressed to 8 years 10 months, a 21 months gain during the 9 month period.

Case Study 2 - Catch Up® Literacy
Child C is an outgoing boy but lacked confidence, especially in his reading ability.
His Reading Age was 7 years 11 months so he was 7 months behind.

He started Catch Up® Literacy on Catch Up® level 5. This was achievable and provided lots of confidence as his reading lacked fluency and he had a tendency to ignore punctuation.

By the time he had been on the intervention for 5 months, he had made 9 months gain in his Reading Age and his confidence was improved. His fluency was developing and he was able to use some reading strategies; to self-correct errors and decode words using the initial phonemes. Also, his comprehension skills had improved; he was able to provide detailed recaps and predict story endings.

At the end of Year 4, his Reading Age was 10 years 2 months, a 27 months gain over 9 months!

Aims
To provide a happy, safe, stimulating environment that is child centred, enabling each individual to develop to their full potential.