CONTEXT As a Catholic Schools, we are committed to provide our students with a holistic educational experience and we are determined to do this without distinction of ability, socio-economic class or race. We are enthused to ensure that all children have the chance to follow an enriching curriculum by getting them reading early. That means supporting the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics to guarantee that children have mastered the basic skills of early reading and also ensure we can identify those with learning difficulties. Objectives i) Make learning to read focused and fun using different modalities to better engage students ii) Use teaching strategies that work with different learning styles in order not to exclude anyone from the learning process. iii) Give children and parents text that matched to the sounds they know so they develop accuracy, speed and confidence iv) Pick up struggling readers and writers straight away with one-to-one tutoring v) Empower teachers and learning support assistants to become lifelong learners specialising in the field of literacy vi) Positively contribute to national and EU targets set for increasing literacy levels, reducing the rate of early school leavers and increase inclusion of all learners. Activities The activities focus on the professional development of Teachers and Learning Support Assistants working with students with special needs at St Monica B’Kara, St. Monica Mosta and St Monica Gzira. Methodology • Various training opportunities including that organised by the SfCE of the educational staff at the participating schools – the aim is to well prepare the staff for teaching literacy at different levels • Demo lessons by literacy support teachers before and after training to better familiarise staff with methodologies used • Feedback sessions with literacy teachers, head of department and service manager SfCE to further support the implementation of the methodology • Empowering the teachers through the development of school action plans in order for the school to become autonomous in the implementation of the programme Outcomes and impact The main outcome and impact expected out of this project are to guide all learners to be able to: • Make learning to read focused and fun • Use picture mnemonics to teach students with special educational needs to read and write necessary sounds used for teaching and spelling • Use decodable text to support the scaffolded reading of children using a reading programme • Use 'three reads' approach to ensure that children love the story and can read it proudly with fluency and expression at home • Provide the tools for children with special educational needs to become confident writers • Early identify struggling readers and writers straight away with one-to-one tutoring and support i) Teaching Reading to struggling students in the secondary schools (http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/training-courses/fresh-start/) • Demonstrate the reading, writing, and spelling process step-by-step • Ensure that speaking and listening are at the heart of teaching • Help to teach staff practice and prepare before teaching the programme • Demonstrate consistent management strategies to ensure pupils participate fully in lessons • Show teachers how to assess for grouping and how to measure phonic knowledge • Help teachers set up one-to-one tutoring to guarantee progress
CONTEXT The context of the project was such that schools participating in the project wanted to share experiences that would lead to better literacy levels. The context of the Maltese and English school participating in this project and each brought its school action plan with areas that need to strengthen or consolidate. Objectives i) The experience in this project provided educators with the experiences need to learn new strategies on the teaching of literacy and this has in fact resulted in an improvement of literacy levels recorded through various assessments. Various educators and stakeholders in implementing the school action plan gained experience in how to better implement different parts of the school strategy of literacy improvement. i) The Senior Management Team (SMT) was able to share ideas of how to plan and implement a school action plan. During the activities organized in this project, the members of the SMT were able to share and discuss what components of their own action plans worked. Through the networking between the different schools, SMT members were able to evaluate and amend these in order to improve teaching and learning. ii) Teachers and Learning Support Educators (LSE's)/Classroom Assistants were able to use this action planning in the classroom. The activities included sharing of experiences and strategies that worked for the schools involved. There were also able to work close to their members of SMT to improve the school action plans. Implemented recommendations included: i) More focused teaching strategies using different modalities to better engage students; ii) Use of teaching strategies that worked with different learning styles/levels of ability in order not to exclude anyone from the learning process; iii) better use of text/books that matched the sounds they know so they develop accuracy, speed, and confidence; iv) better identification of struggling readers This was done to ensure high-quality literacy teaching since partners strongly believe that this raises standards of literacy. Our school was able to provide a professional development experience to 30 educators who in turn were able to influence other educators in the school to work together in favor of a school literacy action plan. Over the 2 years, the school saw an improvement in the level of expertise of its educators. Learning Support Educators also felt empowered in the knowledge gained. This knowledge was such that dissemination with other teachers and parents as possible. This dissemination helped other schools and institutions to implement some of the strategies used in this project. Each of the activities focuses on a particular area: Activity 1: This activity helped education leaders to understand what is required as a school in order to have strong leadership skills but also an effective school action plan to guide all the educators to improvement. Schools discussed the different strategies and difficulties and throughout the activity, they were able to come with a plan for the following months. The experience of excellent literacy results obtained by the school in the UK allowed the other schools to visualize what levels were possible for them to emulate. The intervention of a keynote speaker helped the leaders (being school leaders, literacy leaders, and special education leaders) to better understand the need of having action plans for literacy improvement. Activity 2: In this activity, the staff at St George's Primary school were able to share their practices both during their presentations but especially during the classroom visits. This focused on strategies particularly relevant for Grade 1 and 2. The intervention of a keynote speaker helped to bring all the ideas together. Activity 3: School was able to understand what was required in developing literacy following the implementation of the school action plan implemented and discussed in activity 2. Activity 4: Following strategies covered in activities 2 and 3, it was the turn to learn more about the implementation of spelling strategies. Teachers spent time sharing together strategies that worked. Furthermore, teachers were able to carry out classroom teaching where they saw the teaching of spelling. The contribution of the keynote speaker facilitated and aided the sessions. Activity 5: This activity, once again brought together leaders who were able to evaluate progress made through the project especially by evaluating the school action plans. Project Results and expected long-term benefits. An improvement in literacy teaching was noted in the school by the SMT and parents. Improved literacy results were also noted, not only at coordinating schools but also in other participating schools. This has in turn had long-term implications since pedagogical practices are still in place and are planned to keep improving.