Excellence Awards

15th July 2016 - Catch Up® Excellence Awards: Ysgol Esgob Morgan, St Asaph - GOLD award winner

Organisation: Ysgol Esgob Morgan
Intervention: Catch Up® Literacy, Catch Up® Numeracy
Submitted by: Richard Hatwood

Background
We are a single form entry Church in Wales Junior School situated in the cathedral city of St Asaph in North Wales. Currently we have 116 learners in attendance at school. We have approximately 17% of learners in receipt of free school meals and around 25% of learners identified as having additional learning needs. There are three learners who have statements of Special Educational Needs.

Catch Up® was introduced to the school over eight years ago as an intense and evidence based intervention to help close the gap between learners who are working slightly below average and the average band. We have seen great success from Catch Up® Literacy and as such in 2012 decided to launch Catch Up® Numeracy. We have supported Catch Up® with a pilot in 2012/13 to study the impact that Catch Up® Numeracy had on learners when compared to alternative and no interventions. The improvement here was clear and led to us training all Learning Support Assistants in both Catch Up® Literacy and Numeracy.

Implementation
Following the annual May testing, the ALNCo meets individually with the class teachers to look at standardised scores, examples of work and other information to plan intervention programmes for the following academic year.

It is here that we discuss learners who we believe would benefit from the Catch Up® interventions and aim to plan this for at least three learners per class for the next year. The ALNCo uses a standard template letter to communicate to parents/guardians what the intervention is about and the impact that it can have on reading and numeracy. He also develops the timetable for the Learning Support Assistants to ensure that the resources needed to deliver Catch Up® are accessible and available.

Progress is monitored over the course of the intervention being delivered by the ALNCo and the class teachers in discussion with the Learning Support Assistants. Sessional information and standardised scores are also obtained along with reading and number ages to help monitor the impact and progress being made over the course of the intervention being delivered.

Case Study 1 - Catch Up® Literacy
Learner A has benefited from the Catch Up® Literacy intervention over the 2015/16 academic year. Initially a learner who had very low confidence when it comes to reading, we have noted a marked improvement in both his achievement in terms of reading, but also his confidence and enjoyment in reading. His ratio gain was 2.27.

This learner was previously on the SEN Register for having significant reading, writing and numeracy difficulties. During his time at the school he has moved from the School Action Plus to School Action stage and last year into what we deem the Catch Up®bracket. (SS 86-95). His reading standardised score was 91 in May 2015 and this increased to 118 in May 2016. He benefited from 25 sessions of Catch Up® Literacy with a Learning Support Assistant during his time in year 6.

In speaking to Learner A, he describes that he can find information in a text more easily now and is able to read in front of the class – something that he particularly enjoys.

Case Study 2 - Catch Up® Numeracy
Learner B has received the Catch Up® Numeracy intervention during the 2015/16 academic year. His scores from May 2015 indicated that he was in the Catch Up® bracket and his confidence was low. Following a series of 20 sessions of Catch Up® Numeracy we were very pleased to see his standardised score move from 91 to 102 and also his confidence in class to improve significantly.

Due to the increase in confidence, Learner B now attends a maths club and enjoys taking part in maths games and competitions with other learners. The standardised score here moved from 91 to 102 over the course of one academic year.

Aims
We are a Church in Wales Junior School situated in the Cathedral City of St
Asaph in North Wales. Our school mission is, 'Together We Aim High' and this
encapsulates everything that we do.
As a fully inclusive school we welcome pupils from all walks of life and encourage them to reach their potential and realise their talents, whatever these may be.