Dumfries and Galloway Building Bridges case study
PDF file: Dumfries and Galloway Building Bridges case studyNorth West Dumfries Literacy Project
This project involved one secondary with a roll of 400 and five associated primaries. The secondary draws mostly from the local town and surrounding areas and has an intake from a mixed socio-economic background. Four of the five associated primaries are in areas of recognised deprivation.
This project focused mostly on modelling and target sharing and how effective they were in improving children’s functional writing and in raising their confidence levels.
Classes all received the same sequence of lessons, which included teacher modelling, a shared writing activity, class discussion of a prepared text and an independently produced piece of writing. Evaluative processes included before and after sampling, examination of completed pupil questionnaires and informal classroom observation.
Overall the quality and quantity of writing improved, as did the technical accuracy of the pieces. Pupils commented on how important they felt modelling, group/team work and a clear understanding of targets were in making them more confident writers able to produce independent writing of good quality.
The team intends to extend children’s experiences of functional writing, offer workshops to interested teachers and develop further good links between sectors.