| South Lanarkshire Council |
|
| Strategy |
| In the short term South
Lanarkshire Education Resources along with the government is investing in 6 projects to
support its commitment to Early Intervention. These projects involve 35 schools selected
on the criteria of clothing grants and will reflect a range of approaches to Early
Intervention and will be monitored over 3 years. SLC has allocated 13 FTE to these
35 schools (2 x 1.0 7 x .6 8 x .4 18 x .2 - allocated on a sliding scale according to
percentage of clothing and footwear grants). |
| It is not expected that any one
approach will be found to be the "best" rather, the intention is to learn what
"works" in each. Subsequently this information will be disseminated to all
schools and will inform revision of our early intervention policy. |
| Project 1 - Home/school
community partnership (11 schools - 6 link workers) |
| The focus of this project is on
the importance of the parent as a key player in supporting the learning of their child.
The project expresses the strong commitment to working in partnership with parents and
encouraging them to access lifelong learning. |
| Project 2- Early
years/Primary Transition (7 schools) |
| This project seeks to identify
what assessment data is required to ensure the smooth transition of children from the
pre-5 sector to Primary 1 and how this data is used effectively in order to ensure
educational progress is enhanced. It is intended that a standard format will be devised
and its use implemented. |
| Project 3 - Assessment
and Recording (5 schools) |
| This project will review a range
of assessment tools and strategies with the intention of providing advice to
practitioners. |
| Project 4 - Teaching and
Learning - Classroom organisation and management (all 35 schools) |
| This project is designed to
improve school and classroom practice. Each identified early interventionist in school
will receive 10 days in-service in year one. |
| Project 5 - Nurturing -
Nursery nurse support for children and schools (6 schools) |
| This project will evaluate the
impact of extra staff in the classroom in the form of nursery nurses and outline the ways
in which this can support learning - nursery nurses will also be encouraged to be involved
in parent workshops, partnership working etc. |
| Project 6 - Visual
awareness - Working with a behavioural optometrist (2 schools) |
| This small project centres on
the diagnosis of children with specific vision awareness difficulties affecting their
reading progress. The trained staff then support them through a daily recovery programme.
|
| In addition all South
Lanarkshire’s 124 primary schools will be offered in-service training on aspects of
early intervention - learning and teaching, classroom organisation, improving literacy and
numeracy, parental involvement. They will also be given specific resources to support
their work in raising achievement in the early stages through effective early
intervention. |
| |
| Scope |
| There are 35 schools involved in
the 6 projects - 971 P1 pupils and 1065 Primary 2 pupils. |
| (Headteachers have said it has
benefited more than their first 2 stages in school!) |
| To date a further 70 schools
have undertaken in-service offered under the Early Intervention programme. |
|
| (a) Achievements and (b) emerging
lessons |
| (a) Children’s needs
are being identified more quickly and the additional in-school staff support has enabled
more direct teaching, team teaching and small group working. |
| The 35 early intervention
teachers feel valued, are more enthusiastic and motivated. |
| Staff expectations of themselves
and of their children have been raised. |
| Results in National Tests at P3
have risen dramatically in some of the project schools as a result of early intervention
strategies being implemented. |
| Parental involvement has
increased particularly in those schools involved in projects 1 and 5. |
| (b) Investment in
training of other staff members is important to ensure expertise is not lost to particular
schools due to staff movement. |
| Provision of additional teaching
staff has a very positive effect on staff and children. |
| Children’s behaviour
improves when they have the advantage of increased small group working. |
| Team work is vital to success
(eg where HT class teacher and nursery nurse are working as a team benefits to children
are obvious). |
| Children benefit when teachers
have time to reflect, plan and respond to research. |
| |
| Local views |
| "Early intervention has
improved our children’s self esteem and confidence. "The wee ones with
difficulties have been helped before their difficulties have come to the notice of the
others". Headteacher |
|
| "In our early
intervention literacy project working together (parents, nursery nurses, home/school link,
teachers) has brought many real benefits not least that we have strengthened our
commitment to real and lasting educational advantage for all". SEN Teacher
|
|
| "I am less stressed,
more motivated and focused and the children are achieving more". Teacher |
