Excellence Awards

8th March 2016 - Catch Up® Excellence Awards: Ysgol Mair Catholic Primary School, Rhyl - SILVER award winner

Organisation: Ysgol Mair Catholic Primary School
Intervention: Catch Up® Literacy, Catch Up® Numeracy
Submitted by: Andrea Whiteway

Background
Ysgol Mair is a Catholic primary school situated in the south of Rhyl, a large seaside town in North Wales. The school serves the parishes of Rhyl, Prestatyn and Abergele/Towyn so it has a large catchment area, with children being brought to school on buses.
Presently there are 349 pupils on roll, which includes 34 part-time nursery pupils. There are twelve mixed ability classes who are taught by ten full-time teachers and four part-time teachers, equalling six FP classes and 6 KS2 classes.
There are 28% of pupils receiving free school meals (higher than the county and national averages), 22% of pupils are EAL (higher than county and national averages) and 13% of pupils have ALN. The area the school serves is considered to be disadvantaged.
As a school, we have successfully used Catch Up® Literacy for 10 years and have used Catch Up® Numeracy for 4 years. We choose to use Catch Up® as an intervention strategy because it has shown proven results over many years with our pupils and is appreciated by parents. The pupils are all keen to be selected for Catch Up® and it has a high status among the children.

Implementation
Catch Up® Literacy and Numeracy are very well established in Ysgol Mair and are well-supported and highly valued interventions. We have a Catch Up® Coordinator, several staff are trained to deliver Catch Up® and there is a designated area for Catch Up® resources in our school.
Learners are identified using their May test results; they are then allocated a member of staff to work with for the year. The target number of sessions per term, for which staff aim, is established in September. At the selected learners’ parents’ evening in the autumn term, parents are informed of the interventions’ aims and purpose. Parents are also given strategies for support to help with reading and numeracy in the home setting. The parents are also informed of their child’s progress through subsequent parents’ evenings each term.
The school identifies staff to be trained in the interventions, based on performance management reviews and individual strengths and interests; within our setting these currently include 4 TAs and our ALN Coordinator. The Catch Up® Coordinator oversees the Catch Up delivery within school, ensuring booklets are monitored termly and staff are observed annually. The Catch Up® Coordinator also tracks the children who have received the intervention. The Headteacher is kept well informed throughout the year, as are Governors, on the specific results; the progress on Catch Up® standards is provided to Governors to allow them an opportunity to ask challenging questions. Staff are updated regularly on the progress of all pupils on the intervention programme, which supports class teaching and vice versa.

Case Study 1 - Catch Up® Literacy
Pupil A is the middle child of three brothers, currently living with Dad. Pupil A received 30 Catch Up® sessions during his eight months on Catch Up® Literacy and progressed through three levels. He made 34 months gain – a ratio gain of 4.25. Pupil A receives Free School Meals and was placed in Local Authority Care with his brothers for a length of time, so has faced disruption to routines.
During Catch Up®, he was identified as having made significant progress in his decoding and comprehension, fluency and spelling skills. The class teacher identified an immense impact on his confidence and attitude, and motivation towards reading in class.
Since Pupil A was part of Catch Up®, he has volunteered to take part in whole school assemblies. In asking Pupil A what he thought of Catch Up®, he stated, “I like spending time reading by myself to the teacher. Catch Up® is great fun.”

Case Study 2 - Catch Up® Numeracy
Pupil B is the youngest child in a large family. She received 40 Catch Up® sessions during eight months of Catch Up® Numeracy intervention. Pupil B made 31 months progress, which is a ratio gain of 3.9.
When Pupil B began the intervention, she had low self-confidence in Numeracy and felt that she was ‘rubbish at Maths’. From following the Catch Up® Numeracy intervention, she gained confidence and began to enjoy Numeracy lessons. Her class teacher noticed a significant improvement in confidence and fluency when dealing with number.
Pupil B said, “I really enjoyed going out to Catch Up® and I know the answer to questions in class now.”

Mission Statement
We are a Catholic School which endeavours to be community,
demonstrating the Love of God in action. We support one another in the
development of individual talents, knowledge and skills to their full
potential since we believe we are all part of God’s family.

In our community so formed each person is a child of God, uniquely valued
and accepted. This reality challenges us to be friendly, supportive and
Christlike. We see in each other qualities, strengths and a richness from
which we can all learn. This calls us to be sensitive to the needs of one
another in times of joy and sadness, of partings and separations hurt and
pain which require forgiveness or celebration.

We respect the world and the environment in which we live because we
See it as God’s world given to the human family for its use and pleasure.

For us religion is a way of life, where we pass on the faith in Jesus Christ
And His Church in a lively and challenging way, which creates a feeling
that “it’s wonderful to be here.”

We see ourselves as Community of School, Family and Parish, working in
the larger Community. To foster this community spirit communication is
essential and therefore is to be valued and encouraged. The reality is to
be seen in our community when we work together in developing a fulfilling
but challenging way of life, where the achievement of others are joyfully
celebrated, thankfully received from God, and cherished by all.