Falkirk Building Bridges case study
Raising attainment and achievement in transactional writing
PDF file: Falkirk Building Bridges case studySt Margaret's, Laurieston, Westquarter, Hallglen and Victoria primary schools and Graeme High School
St Margaret's primary school, Laurieston primary school, Westquarter primary school, Hallglen primary school Victoria primary school & Graeme High School formed the team involved in the building bridges project. These schools form part of the Graeme Integrated Learning Community. The ILC represents a mixture of socio-economic groupings in Falkirk.
The main focus was to raise attainment in pupil's transactional writing. It was decided to expand the use of the North Lanarkshire writing pack currently being used nearly all of the primary schools within the area. Graeme High school was given a copy of the pack and began to incorporate it into their programme of study.
Staff started by using lesson observation and use of the critical friend model to help build relationships between the working partners. Meetings between primary and secondary staff were a great success and many wished more time could be given to this aspect of the project. All schools were also involved in the implementation of formative assessment techniques and these were used in conjunction the North Lanarkshire writing pack
Many pupils were familiar with the methods used in the North Lanarkshire pack as they had experienced this at primary school and this made a marked difference in their work produced at Graeme High School. Majority of pupils in both sectors improved their writing by at least 1 grade, some by two or more. This project will form the foundation that can be built upon to further develop writing and formative assessment within the schools.