Catch Up Excellence Awards
Catch Up® Excellence Awards: Cogan Primary School, Nr. Penarth - BRONZE award winner (Catch Up® Literacy)
What schools say
26th February 2016 - Catch Up® Excellence Awards: Cogan Primary School, Nr. Penarth - BRONZE award winner (Catch Up® Literacy)
Organisation: Cogan Primary School
Intervention: Catch Up® Literacy
Submitted by: Ruth Morgan
Cogan Primary School is situated on the outskirts of the large seaside town of Penarth, and was built in 1884. There are currently 207 pupils on roll. Within the school, there is a Hearing Resource Base with 6 pupils who are integrated into mainstream classes with support. 14% of pupils are on our SEN register and 12% of pupils are on our FSM register. 6% of our pupils speak a language other than English at home.
We received an excellent report from our last ESTYN inspection in February 2011, placing us within the top 11% of schools in Wales and in which our Hearing Resource Base was deemed 'sector leading'.
At Cogan Primary, we are very well resourced in terms of LSA support in classes and, over the years, our school has invested heavily in training most support staff in Catch Up® Literacy. At present, six LSAs are delivering Catch Up® with individual learners.
Children are selected for the intervention after analysis of their Welsh Government National Test results and also school-based reading assessments (New Salford), which are implemented three times a year. At the end of each Summer term, the school ALNCo and Senior Management Team come together to analyse all data rigorously and draw up a list of pupils requiring basic skills interventions, of which Catch Up® Literacy is among the most prominent. At the beginning of the Autumn term, the Catch Up® assessment process begins and thereafter, delivery of the intervention is monitored by the school's ALNCo through meetings with Catch Up® deliverers, with interim results entered into her own tracking template. The ALNCo is at hand for Catch Up® deliverers to consult, particularly when it comes to looking at the needs of particular learners, and also sits in on Catch Up® sessions from time to time to ensure that high quality delivery is maintained. Individual learner's progress through the intervention is communicated to parents at Parents' Evenings.
Case Study 1 - Catch Up® Literacy
Case study 1 Child Seven is a young member of his year 3 class. He is extremely articulate and interested in his studies, with a high non-verbal score in national test results but some sensory issues. In class, he uses 'fiddle to focus' equipment which aids his attention. Although not seriously underachieving in reading (he was a month behind his chronological age in reading accuracy at the start of the intervention) we felt that according to his non-verbal score, he should be achieving more, which is why we selected the Catch Up® Literacy intervention, in order to give him a 'boost'. He responded very well to the individual attention and structure of the Catch Up® session and made enormous progress, so after seven months on the programme, he had achieved a 22 month gain in his reading age. We are delighted that Catch Up® Literacy has helped Child Seven achieve his potential.
In Cogan School, we aim to provide a safe, stimulating environment in which all children may be motivated towards independence of learning.
We aim to develop an awareness of the need for self-discipline in learning and social settings and to promote an atmosphere in which a child will feel confident to express opinions on cultural, social, emotional and educational issues.