LAC - Monmouthshire County Council
The proportion of LAC funding targeted for the development of basic literacy skills in Monmouthshire has focused on upper KS 2 learners. Needs of individual learners were initially assessed through dialogue and consultation with teachers, support staff, carers and most importantly of all, with the children themselves.
This provided very clear objectives for follow up sessions, negotiated with each child/group of children to develop meaningful, relevant and interesting units of work specific to individual requirements. These initial sessions also served to create secure learning environments and to establish excellent working relationships between the teacher delivering the sessions and the pupils involved.
Areas of learning have focused on:
- Revision of early reading strategies – phonics and blending to assist with decoding skills
- Language comprehension strategies
- Spelling programmes- focused graphemes specific to individual needs/ learning to segment single syllable words and recognise syllables in multi-syllabic words
- Strategies to improve creative writing – using vocabulary, punctuation, connectives etc.
The value of these 1-1 tutoring sessions has ensured increased confidence in all pupils, improved decoding and language comprehension skills. Spelling has improved, although more frequent sessions would create a more positive impact in this area.
For these children, ensuring teaching and learning experiences that are focused solely on their needs, provide valuable opportunities for discussion and reflection that may not occur in a busy classroom environment.
Monmouthshire