01842 668080
Organisation: St Robert's Catholic Primary School
Intervention: Catch Up® Literacy, Catch Up® Numeracy
Submitted by: Barbara Murphy
Background
St Robert’s Primary School is made up of 199 children aged from 3-11, and serves a wide catchment area with mixed socio-economic needs. The school has approximately 7% of its pupils identified as SEN, with a further 12% of pupils identified as receiving Basic Skills support. The school credits its low percentage of SEN children to early intervention for ‘at risk’ pupils, with interventions such as Catch Up®. The identification of and provision for these children is the responsibility of all staff, but is monitored and supervised by the ALNco (also the Deputy Head Teacher) and by the Headteacher, who takes on the role of SENco. In previous years, the only support available to children was Language Support when pupils were identified as SEN. The HT and DHT both felt that some children were being missed because they did not meet the criteria for this support, or support was needed so that they did not end up back on the SEN register. After the successful implementation of Catch Up® Literacy in 2013, where all staff could see improvements in pupils’ literacy skills and their confidence in this area, the school decided to also take on board Catch Up® Numeracy (2014). Since the implementation of both of these interventions, we have both quantitative and qualitative data that indicates the positive impact these interventions have on pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills.
Implementation
There are a number of ways in which pupils are identified as needing Catch Up® support in school:
1 – A child that has come off Language Support and needs consolidation and support for a further year;
2 – A child scoring 6-18 months below their reading age and a standardised score on the National Reading Test between 85 and 95;
3 – A standardised score on the National Numeracy test between 85 and 95;
4 – Nomination by class teacher or by parent.
Once those pupils that may need additional support are identified, they are looked at by the ALNco and SENco to ensure suitability before being allocated to one of the two LSOs who deliver the interventions. Afternoons are set aside for the interventions and this ensures that there is plenty of time for these to be planned for and delivered effectively. Once a child has been selected and has completed their initial assessment (and is still seen as a suitable candidate for the intervention), parents are informed and given a leaflet about the intervention. We also have a home-school link book, which is completed by the LSO and sent home with the child so that parents know what has been covered in the intervention that week.
There are regular discussions between the two LSOs and the ALNco as to how well pupils are progressing, and this information is added to the Catch Up® tracker and Provision Mapping tool the school uses. These members of staff have been supported by the ALNco, who regularly watches Catch Up® sessions and monitors these using the Catch Up® monitoring proformas. The ALNco has looked over planning proformas and completed monitoring proformas. All planning sheets and assessments are stored in an intervention folder, found in each classroom. These can then also be accessed by the class teacher.
The ALNco and SENco have completed listening to learner sessions with those children that receive Catch Up®. The children have always spoken very highly of this intervention. They comment that it has boosted their confidence in class when responding in literacy and numeracy sessions and that it has benefited them in their learning in these areas.
Case Study 1 - Catch Up® Literacy
Prior to taking part in Catch Up® Literacy, Child A’s reading age was 6 years and 2 months, which was 6 months below his chronological age. He was grouped within the lower ability of his class and was often supported by a class LSO. His class teacher felt that Catch Up® Literacy would help support him with his literacy skills.
Child A had 32 Catch Up® sessions throughout the year, and made 28 months’ gain in his reading age, which is a ratio gain of 3.46 based on the period of intervention. His reading age is now 8 years and 6 months – 9 months above his chronological age.
Case Study 2 - Catch Up® Numeracy
Child B often struggled in numeracy and also had quite poor attendance. As a result of this, her class teacher nominated her for the intervention.
Prior to receiving Catch Up® Numeracy, Child B had a number age of 7 years and 5 months. This was 22 months below her chronological age at the time. She worked well in the sessions and was always focussed and keen to learn.
At the end of the intervention, Child B’s number age had increased to 9 years and 2 months, which is a gain of 21 months. Her ratio gain, based on the period of intervention, was 2.43 and she made two sub-levels gain in her NC levels (from 3 to 4-).
Aims
Each person in our school is unique and our intention is that they will develop spiritually, morally, socially and academically to their full potential with Jesus as their guide, the Holy Spirit as their inspiration and God as their loving Father.
We set high academic and behavioural standards and the staff is committed and hardworking, to enable the children achieve their full potential.
The strong relationship we have with our Parish of St. Robert’s enables our children to belong to a wider supportive faith community.