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9th February 2018 - Three schools talk about their Catch Up®success!

Training room

Our first two seminars of 2018 have now taken place, so thank you to everyone who joined us in either Thetford, Norfolk, or Rainham, Essex, to find out about implementing and sustaining high-impact literacy and numeracy interventions.

The lunchtime seminars were led by two of our Catch Up® Accredited Trainers – Janet Beverley (Thetford) and Clare Manghan (Rainham) – who both deliver Catch Up® training to teachers and TAs at a number of our Regional Training Centres, and we were delighted to hear from a range of school staff, who talked about their different experiences in using Catch Up® Literacy and Catch Up® Numeracy.

We were joined in Thetford by Lynn Ray from Bures CEVC Primary School, who shared her experience of implementing and delivering both of the Catch Up® interventions in a small rural school. Lynn particularly mentioned the ‘fantastic resources’ provided by Catch Up®, such as the online booklist and Progress Reporting Tool. She told us how class teachers are ‘impressed by increased confidence and attainment of the children’, and said that ‘the Catch Up® reading and numeracy guides have been invaluable for parents’.

Lynn also told us about a child who took part in Catch Up® Literacy, who made 39 months’ progress in 10 months of intervention. We then heard about another child, who took part in Catch Up® Numeracy and made 10 months’ progress in just 5 months.

In Rainham, we were lucky to hear presentations from staff at two different schools: Ruth Deer from The Jenny Hammond Primary School in Waltham Forest, and Claire Nevett from St Katherine’s C of E Primary School, Canvey Island.

Ruth had presented for us at a seminar in Tower Hamlets last year, and it was great to hear how Catch Up® is going from strength to strength in her school, with an increased number of staff trained to deliver the interventions, and more children accessing them. Ruth told us that, currently, Catch Up® Literacy is being used to support 6 learners in Years 3, 4 and 6, and Catch Up® Numeracy is supporting 17 learners in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

We heard how Catch Up® has helped to increase dialogue with parents, and that parents see evidence of progress and are ‘amazed at how quickly the gaps are closing’. Ruth shared some very impressive data with us, showing the gains in Reading and Number Ages made by a number of learners in her school who had previously taken part in Catch Up® Literacy or Numeracy, respectively.

Ruth spoke about a very reserved child from an EAL background, who made 47 months’ progress over 14 months of Catch Up® Literacy. Another child, who took part in Catch Up® Numeracy, has moved on to small group support, having made 35 months’ progress in 10 months of intervention.

Claire’s school has been running both interventions since March 2016, when she was trained to deliver Catch Up® Literacy, and her colleague Jo to deliver Catch Up® Numeracy. They both act as Coordinators, each for their respective intervention, and they have both achieved the Level 3 qualification, ‘Managing Catch Up® Intervention’.

Claire explained how she and Jo monitor each other’s delivery of sessions regularly, to ensure best results from the interventions, and also commented that ‘the best thing is to see children actually enjoying their learning’, and that the children ‘want to take part and are proud of their achievements’.

She went on to tell us about a 9-year-old child who took part in both interventions, as baseline tests showed the child to be 2 years behind in literacy, and 18 months behind in maths.

The child was supported by Catch Up® Literacy for 11 months, and her reading age, when reassessed at the end of the period, went from being 2 years behind to 6 months above her actual age. Similarly with Catch Up® Numeracy – after 11 months, her Number Age had increased from 18 months behind to 1 month above her actual age. Importantly, the child’s self-esteem had also improved greatly, and she became more settled and focused in class.

Both seminars concluded with our Catch Up® Accredited Trainers running through the elements of the Catch Up® training and support package, including opportunities available for trained staff, such as the Review and Refresh sessions, and showing us the new Progress Reporting Tool, which Catch Up® schools can now use to track and easily report on progress.

We hope the seminars were useful for all those involved, and thank you again to all of our presenters and schools who came and contributed. Please use the following link to find out more about Catch Up® training courses running near you: forthcoming training.

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