LITERACY, COMMUNICATION and EAL
Respect is at the heart of everything we do at Newham PRUs. To engage our students, some of whom have disengaged with education or may be reluctant readers, we aim to create an environment where our students feel safe and respected. Our Literacy Strategy seeks to empower students to communicate, using every day and academic language.
Our aim is to ensure our learners make continued progress during their time with us. It is identified through assessment that up to 70% of students at Newham PRUs have ‘hidden’ speech, Language or Communication difficulties that have thus far not been supported, and around 63% of our pupils have dyslexic traits.
At Newham PRUs, the Literacy Co-ordinator, Special Educational Needs Coordinator and Speech and Language Therapist work closely with all staff to ensure that we provide communication friendly environments that widen participation and enrich learning.
We work to support our students develop their literacy skills. This includes them being able to make informed choices about the type of language they use in a variety of different contexts and situations. This applies to reading, writing, speaking & listening within the school and out in the wider community.
All new students who arrive at Newham PRUs are given baseline assessments using the standardised Lucid Lass Assessment and/or Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA). This tests individual students’ ability in literal and inferred comprehension, vocabulary and analysis. In addition to this students complete a checklist for processing difficulties such as dyslexia, and undertake Speech, Language & Communication assessments that help to identify any deficits in:-
- Understanding of spoken language and verbal reasoning
- Understanding and use of vocabulary
- Sentence Structure & narrative
- Social Interaction
How We Help Students Improve Their Reading
We offer a variety of reading interventions to meet students where they are and help them grow. These interventions are tailored to each student's specific needs and may be delivered one-on-one or in small groups.
Our interventions include:
- Lexia:An adaptive, online program that provides personalised instruction in foundational reading skills.
- Power Up!A program focused on developing vocabulary and comprehension strategies.
- Ruth Misken Fresh Start Phonics:A systematic phonics program designed for older students who need to strengthen their foundational reading skills.
- Essential English Grammar:An intervention that focuses on building a solid understanding of grammar and sentence structure to improve reading comprehension.
All students whether born here in the UK or elsewhere, are regarded as having EAL status (even if they are fluent in the English language) if the main language in the family home is not English. We carry out an EAL survey for all new students to ascertain if they have EAL status or not. If they are new to English they will be assessed using The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) or an equivalent framework is used as a guide to assess and track language development (See EAL Policy). The outcome of these assessments will inform decisions around whether they will receive a personalised EAL intervention including 1-1 interventions and in class support.
As a result of the assessments and screenings we carry out during student admissions, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the individual literacy, communication and EAL needs of our students.
All pupils have a personal Pupil Profile that is created for all new students at the admissions stage, and these are shared with all staff to support learning in the classroom. The profile contains recommendations and strategies that will help each young person overcome any barriers they may have to learning. This is part of our ‘Assess - Plan – Do – Review’ cycle.
Our targeted interventions include:-
Ruth Misken Fresh Start https://ruthmisken.com
Cambridge Essential Grammar https://www.cambridge.es/en/catalogue/grammar-vocabulary-and-pronunciation/grammar/essential-grammar-in-use4
Lexia Power Up! https://www.lexiauk.co.uk/literacy-programs/powerup/
Acting Literacy Coordinator is-Jo Etienne jo.etienne@prus.newham.sch.uk
jo.etienne@prus.newham.sch.uk