Making Good Progress in KS3 English

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Making Good Progressin KS3 English
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Focusing on progression

• Key questions
• In what ways do we track for progression across
  the subject?
• How is this information used to identify those
  pupils who are making slow progress?
• Which individual pupils and specific groups of
  pupils are currently identified through our
  tracking?
• What actions are we taking to support these
  pupils?

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School Pupil Progression Chart

• Paste from RAISEonline English
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Discussion (1)

• Consider the national pupil progression charts
  for Key
• Stage 3 English and the schools own charts
• How do the schools charts compare to the
  national ones?
• Who are the pupils in your teaching groups who
  are potentially slow moving, stuck or
  falling behind?
• What are some of the reasons for these pupils
  making slow progress in English?

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Investigating progress in English at Key Stage 3
(1)

• The findings presented on subsequent slides arise
  from three separate investigations focusing on
  slow movers in English, identified in terms of
  conversion from Level 3 at KS2 to Level 5 at KS3,
  from Level 4 at KS2 to Level 5 at KS3 and from
  Level 5 at KS2 to Level 7 at KS3
• The schools involved in the investigations were
  selected on the basis of their KS2 to KS3
  conversion rates
• A relatively small sample of 56 schools was chosen

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Investigating progress in English at Key Stage 3
(2)

• The investigations included
• Focused discussions with approximately 360 pupils
  in Year 8 and Year 9
• Discussions with headteachers/ senior leaders,
  subject leaders teachers
• The findings have been cross-checked with
  evidence obtained by Ofsted, the National
  Strategies and the Training and Development
  Agency (TDA) and appropriate actions agreed with
  these partners

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Pen portrait of the pupils struggling to progress
from Level 3 to Level 5

• Could be slow to settle in lessons and
  occasionally engaged in low level disruption
• Admitted that they sometimes chose when to work
  and their engagement in a lesson could depend on
  their mood
• Struggled with personal organisation, tending to
  lose work, books and folders which teachers
  sometimes saw as avoidance tactics
• Did not respond well to tests or to working under
  timed conditions
• Preferred learning that was visual, practical and
  active and they could respond creatively and
  imaginatively to work of this nature
• Preferred short focused activities and found it
  helpful when their work was broken into chunks
• Appreciated an element of fun in their learning,
  such as word games
• Lacked the confidence and the strategies to work
  independently, avoided risks and tended to be
  reliant on small group or one-to one adult
  support
• Knew they were struggling in English, but seemed
  to accept that they were working below the level
  of many of their peers

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Pen portrait of the pupils struggling to progress
from Level 4 to Level 5

• Were easily distracted and disorganised
• Would have liked some targeted support although
  they didnt always know what aspects of their
  work they needed help with
• Wanted to work independently but lacked the self
  help strategies to do so effectively
• Gave up easily, often leaving work unfinished
• Were engaged and applied themselves to their work
  when they found it interesting otherwise they
  failed to see the point, describing it as
  boring
• Felt deeply frustrated at their limitations in
  reading and writing and did not consider
  themselves to be good at English, despite having
  attained Level 4 at the end of Key Stage 2

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Pen portrait of the pupils struggling to progress
from Level 5 to Level 7

• Had clear opinions about what they liked and
  disliked in English
• Were generally well motivated although several
  admitted to leaving their homework to the last
  minute
• Were imaginative and a number of them used their
  ideas to write at home for pleasure
• Liked choice and independence and preferred the
  freedom to write without constraint
• Wanted to know the broader relevance of the work
  they did in class and felt that preparation for
  an examination was not a sufficient reason
• Mostly knew that they had attained Level 5 at Key
  Stage 2 and many were aware that this represented
  high attainment
• Were, in a minority of cases, negatively
  influenced by peer pressure and did not wish to
  be identified as able
• Felt unnoticed and were conscious that much
  support in the school targeted the less able and
  the gifted and talented

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Discussion (2)

• Do you have pupils in your teaching groups who
  fit these profiles?
• Which of the characteristics most closely match
  those of the pupils in your groups who are
  potentially slow moving, stuck or falling
  behind?

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Obstacles to progress for all slow moving pupils
starting at Levels 3, 4 5

• Typically, pupils
• Were unsure of their strengths and weaknesses in
  reading, writing or speaking and listening
• Made little use of teacher feedback
• Were often unclear about how to progress from one
  level to the next

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Obstacles hindering progression from Level 3 to
Level 5 in English

• Typically, pupils
• Were self conscious about reading aloud in front
  of their peers, as they sometimes stumbled over
  unfamiliar words
• Enjoyed lightweight fiction and magazines which
  teachers believed led to inappropriate
  informality in their writing
• Lacked a feel for the overall shape of a
  sentence, often losing track of the ending part
  way through
• Had difficulty clustering and developing their
  ideas within a paragraph
• Saw writing as a means of personal expression,
  but lacked the sense of writing for a wider
  readership.
• Displayed good oral skills but their talk often
  lacked formality and a wider awareness of
  audience
• Made good gains during interventions sessions but
  didnt readily transfer their learning to English
  lessons or to other lessons across the
  curriculum.

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Obstacles hindering progression from Level 4 to
Level 5 in English

• Typically, pupils
• Did not regard themselves as readers although
  many of them had enjoyed a particular book or
  series of books by a favourite writer
• Regarded their own personal reading as less valid
  than the texts they read in class
• Saw punctuation as a chore or an afterthought and
  had little understanding of using punctuation to
  shape meaning.
• Regarded planning as a waste of time, often
  resented having to do it and tended to focus on
  content rather than structure
• Regarded speaking and listening as skills to be
  used rather than skills to be improved
• Welcomed the opportunity to work in small groups,
  although for the most part, were expected to work
  on their own.
• Would have liked some targeted intervention in
  Years 7 and 8

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Obstacles hindering progression from Level 5 to
Level 7 in English

• Typically, pupils
• Had limited opportunities to build on their
  achievement from the previous key stage
• Were unclear about the progress they were making
  from Level 5 to Level 7
• Read independently, for the most part, but not
  always at an appropriate level of challenge
• Felt frustrated at having to follow at the pace
  of other, slower readers in their class
• Were able speakers and listeners and would have
  benefited from some more challenging
  opportunities to use these skills in lessons
• Lacked confidence when evaluating their own work

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Discussion (3)

• Which of the descriptions and obstacles to
  progress are most pertinent to the pupils you
  teach?

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What all slow moving pupils starting at Levels
3, 4 5 in English need

• Clear and agreed success criteria before tasks
  are set as well as after
• SMART targets precise targets that help clarify
  what they need to learn next and constructive
  feedback that motivates them to succeed
• A raised profile of target setting ensuring
  that there are planned opportunities to have a
  dialogue with teachers about targets
• Planned opportunities in the scheme of work to
  reflect on teacher marking/comments
• Response time and a range of response
  opportunities, e.g. turning teacher marking into
  a question necessitating a written response
• Support such as guided work for pupils with the
  same or similar targets
• Attention to the target-getting process by
  ensuring that they know how to meet their targets
• A clear expectation that the majority will make
  two levels of progress

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Actions to support progression from Level 3 to
Level 5 in English

• Pupils need
• Opportunities to develop and apply a range of
  reading strategies in small group and whole class
  situations
• Participation in schemes that support and
  encourage them to read more texts independently
• Good models of appropriate texts in a range of
  genres on which to model their own writing
• An increased focus on sentence level work,
  including oral rehearsal of sentences and
  re-reading during writing
• Support to enable them to cluster and develop
  their ideas within a paragraph
• Rewards for writing well including opportunities
  to receive responses from readers of their work
  other than the teacher
• Explicit teaching to enable them to talk and
  write effectively for more formal audiences and
  purposes
• Sustained support to secure and maintain the
  gains made though intervention programmes

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Actions to support progression from Level 4 to
Level 5 in English

• Pupils need
• Guidance on making independent choices of texts
  and a willingness to take risks in selection
• Opportunities to discuss their reading habits and
  reading diet
• Opportunities to explore a writers structural
  and linguistic choices in a range of fiction and
  non-fiction texts
• Modelling by the teacher which demonstrates the
  link between punctuation, meaning and effect on
  the reader
• Teacher modelling, through shared and guided
  writing, of a range of planning strategies and
  formats
• Explicit modelling of the conventions of speaking
  and listening
• More opportunities to share ideas in small groups
• Clarity about their strengths and areas for
  improvement, particularly if there is a
  difference in their levels for reading and writing

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Actions to support progression from Level 5 to
Level 7 in English

• Pupils need
• Curricular targets which focus clearly on
  progression to Level 7
• Clarity about their strengths and areas for
  improvement, particularly if there is a
  difference in their levels for reading and
  writing
• Guided reading and writing which focuses on
  breaking down the barriers to Level 7 attainment
• Support to develop wider reading of more
  challenging texts, both in class as well as
  independently
• Classroom practice that encourages rather than
  frustrates their ability to read faster and write
  with greater independence and originality
• Opportunities to adopt more challenging roles in
  structured speaking and listening activities
• Confidence to assess their own work and evaluate
  their strengths and areas for improvement

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Discussion (4)

• Next steps
• What do you think are the key issues arising from
  this session for the department?
• What should be the departmental priorities to
  meet these pupils needs?