Raising Standards in Literacy and Numeracy

• Emphasis in year 1 on developing literacy skills (greater future attention to numeracy skills).
• Support for P1/P2 teachers in the classroom through appointment of classroom assistants.
• Support for teachers in developing their teaching strategies in relation to literacy through in-service and ‘sharing’ meetings.
• Support for parents and the development of family literacy.
• Delegation of most of the available funding to schools to enable the appointment of staff (nursery nurses, auxiliaries, learning support teachers or class teachers) best suited to meet their identified needs.

• End-of-year assessments have not yet been completed but on-going profiling of children indicates that most have made very good progress. The pupils are also noticeably enthusiastic.
• The home-link teacher role has been extremely important in developing parents’ support and enhancing their confidence in assisting their children’s learning.
• Staff involved have improved their own teaching expertise and will be able to pass on the benefits to others.
• Effective joint working between class teachers and classroom assistants requires clear remits for each and ‘tight’ organisation.

• Other agencies might now be involved to the benefit of pupils, eg speech therapy, library service.
• Still more guidance is required for staff on phonological awareness and further support is needed for assessment.
• Curriculum balance needs to be reviewed; in particular, staff may require guidance on using environmental studies as a vehicle within which literacy and numeracy skills can be developed (rather than reducing time spent on environmental studies).