Research School Network: Improving Literacy At KS2 and KS3 Summary of 3 Day Programme – Evidence Informed Approaches for Closing the Word Gap

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Improving Literacy At KS2 and KS3

Summary of 3 Day Programme – Evidence Informed Approaches for Closing the Word Gap

by Unity Research School
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By the end of KS2, persistently disadvantaged pupils are on average 12.3 months behind in their learning. Shockingly, by the end of KS4, this gap has doubled.

Only recently, evidenced-based ideas have been developed to enable teachers to make the step change for students with poor literacy. Ruth Everett, SLE and FCCT, was part of a small team which created a course with Alex Quigley at Huntington Research School, York to give teachers practical, instantly employable strategies to begin to address the literacy barrier for so many young people.

Ruth everett word gap

The resulting three-day programme Ruth delivered, at Suffolk Borders Teaching Alliance in Great Cornard (Sudbury), ran from March to June. 

Delegates explored approaches to reading, writing and vocabulary development. This was founded upon research-based evidence, including the Oxford Language Report of 2018 Closing the Word Gap and recent EEF Guidance reports.

Eef gr improving literacy at ks2 3

Sessions included:

  • Ways of teaching vocabulary and closing the word gap; 
  • Practical strategies to encourage reading fluency and improve readers’ comprehension;
  • How to support students read non-fiction texts;
  • How to support students’ writing;
  • Strategies to raise levels of students’ oracy.
Scarboroughs reading rope EEF literacy guidance 1024x700

As with all our three-day programmes, delegates used the time between sessions to reflect on their learning and explore how to implement the evidence-based strategies in their own context. 

Course learning proccess
3 day programme course graphic1

Delegates’ feedback was excellent:

“Great to have time between days to reflect on current practice and how to move forward…”

Word gap 3a

“Useful to be given the opportunity to think about the theory and research behind our classroom practice…”

Word gap 5a

“I feel I will be able to put lots of ideas into practice immediately…”

Word gap 6a

“I have found this course so useful!”

“Incredibly helpful to collaborate with colleagues across key stages and learn from one another…”

If you would like to be kept up-to-date with opportunities to attend this or any other CPD course, please fill in the online form from this link.

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