DOCUMENT RESUME ED 472 271 CS 511 706 Making Links: Guidance for Summer Schools. Key Stage 3. TITLE National Strategy. Department for Education and Skills, London (England). INSTITUTION REPORT NO DfES-0096/2002 PUB DATE 2002-00-00 NOTE 135p. AVAILABLE FROM Department for Education and Skills (DfES), P.O. Box 5050, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Notts NG15 ODJ. Tel: 0845 6022260; Fax: 0845 6033360; e-mail: [email protected]. For full text: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/midbins/keystage3/ Making% 201inks:%20guidance%20to%20summer%20schools.PDF. PUB TYPE Classroom Guides Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS British National Curriculum; *Classroom Techniques; Educational Objectives; Elementary Education; Foreign Countries; *Literacy; *Numeracy; Student Needs; *Summer Schools; Units of Study; Writing Instruction IDENTIFIERS *National Literacy Strategy (England) ABSTRACT Summer schools are an integral part of the Key Stage 3 of England's National Literacy Strategy. They play an important role in giving students, who are still at Level 3 in the National Curriculum tests, a flying start to their secondary school career by making links between the Year 6 and Year 7 curriculum. Students are expected to achieve the targets the summer school coordinator negotiates with them and their Year 6 teachers. This guide is designed for those teachers and administrators running summer literacy and numeracy schools. The guide is divided into the following sections: (1) Introduction; (2) General Principles; (3) Characteristics of Successful Summer Schools; (4) Aims and Objectives; (5) Creating the Right Climate; (6) Management of Summer Schools; (7) Staffing the Summer Schools and Training; (8) Working with Primary Schools; (9) Identifying Target Pupils; (10) Planning the Summer School Curriculum; (11) Pupil Target Setting and Assessment; (12) Teaching Strategies; (13) Structure of Summer School Sessions; (14) Working with Parents; (15) Reward and Sponsorship; (16) Monitoring and Assessment; (17) Summer Schools--How Primary Schools Can Help; and (18) Bibliography (which contains 16 items). Attached are 10 teaching units, which are based on units of work were written by a group of teachers and advisers for summer literacy schools (part of England's National Literacy Strategy) in 2000. The units provide 10 days (50 hours) of literacy teaching and repeat the selected key objectives. They incorporate whole-class teaching as well as small group work covering one Literacy Progress Unit across the 10 days. The 10 units of study are: Language and Comedy; Newspaper Article; Descriptive Narrative; Journeys; Descriptive Writing; Narrative Writing; Letter of Complaint; Writing Information Text; Writing Instructions; and Persuasive Writing. (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Raising -Standards Standards and Effectiveness Unit National Strategy Making links: guidance for summer schoo s U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Si COPY AVAILABLE education and skills creating opportunity, releasing potential, achieving excellence 2 Making links: guidance for summer schools 2 Contents Introduction 3 1 General principles 4 2 The characteristics of successful summer schools 4 3 Aims and objectives 6 4 Creating the right climate 7 5 Management of summer schools 6 7 Staffing the summer schools and training 8 7 Working with primary schools 8 11 Identifying target pupils 13 9 Planning the summer school curriculum 14 10 23 Pupil target setting and assessment 11 26 Teaching strategies 12 The structure of summer school sessions 31 13 Working with parents 35 14 36 Reward and sponsorship 15 36 Monitoring and assessment 16 Summer schools - how primary schools can help 38 17 Bibliography 39 18 Department for Education and Skills Sanctuary Buildings Great Smith Street London SW1P 3BT © Crown copyright 2002 Extracts from this document may be reproduced for non-commercial educational or training purposes on condition that the source is acknowledged The Department for Education and Skills wishes to make it clear that the Department, and its agents, accept no responsibility for the actual content of any of the materials suggested as information sources within this document, whether these are in the form of printed publications or upon a website. Further copies of this document are available from: DIES Publications Tel 0845 60 222 60 Fax 0845 60 333 60 Textphone 0845 60 555 60 e-mail dfeseprolog.uk.com www.standards.dfes.gov.uk www.dfes.gov.uk BEST COPY AVAILABLE 3 Making links: guidance for summer schools 3 Introduction 1 Rationale The government's National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies for primary education have set ambitious targets for attainment at age eleven. By 2004 85% of 11 year olds are expected to achieve level 4 or above in English and 85% to achieve level 4 or above in mathematics. Primary pupils are already well on the way to achieving their targets. The challenge for Key Stage 3 is to secure and build on these achievements and at the same time offer help to those pupils who need additional literacy and mathematics support. The Key Stage 3 National Strategy focuses on four important principles: Expectations: establishing high expectations for all pupils and setting ambitious targets for them to achieve. o Progression: strengthening the transition from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 and ensuring progression in teaching and learning across Key Stage 3. to Engagement: promoting approaches to teaching and learning that engage and motivate pupils and demand their active participation. O Transformation: strengthening teaching and learning through a programme of professional development and practical support. Summer schools are an integral part of the Key Stage 3 National Strategy. They are an important element in a range of provision which supports pupils who are performing below national expectations. They play an important role in giving pupils, who are still at level 3 in the National Curriculum tests, a flying start to their secondary school career by making links between the Year 6 and Year 7 curriculum. Pupils are expected to achieve the targets the summer school coordinator negotiates with them and their Year 6 teachers. Summer schools strengthen the transition from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 and incorporate approaches to teaching and learning which pupils are familiar with in the primary strategies but which are applied in the context of the secondary school curriculum and the Frameworks for English and mathematics. Those pupils who leave primary school still at level 3 are given additional support to improve their literacy or numeracy skills during summer school. This support continues throughout Year 7 through well-structured and focused catch-up programmes to enable these pupils to reach level 4 by the end of the year. The purpose of this guidance This guidance is for those running summer literacy and numeracy schools. It is written specifically for managers and coordinators in schools. It may also be of interest to local education authority (LEA) officers, headteachers and their staff, and other teaching and support staff involved in providing courses for Year 6 and Year 7 pupils. The guidance seeks to ensure that lessons learned from the summer schools programme in previous years are applied in planning for this year. It highlights the importance of integrating summer schools with the catch-up programmes in Year 7. Experience in previous years indicates that schools placed more emphasis on running summer schools than on the Year 7 catch- up programmes. It is important that these are seen as two closely-linked programmes. © Crown copyright 2002 4 Making links: guidance for summer schools 4 This summer school guidance should be read in conjunction with the guidance contained in the literacy and numeracy Year 7 catch-up programmes. Teaching units for both literacy and numeracy summer schools, which may be used as schemes of work, are available to schools on the Key Stage 3 Strategy website (www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/keystage3/ publications) or from DfES Publications (see page 40). LEAs are being asked to help their schools become familiar with this guidance, and the associated teaching units, wherever possible. The catch-up programmes for English, six Literacy Progress units, and for mathematics, Springboard 7, have already been made available to schools. 2 General principles The programme builds on the experience of summer schools in previous years by: o identifying and preserving the best elements of current practice in summer schools; improving the continuity between the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies in primary schools and the further development of literacy and mathematics skills at secondary level; o providing continuous support for targeted pupils from the later stages of Key Stage 2 well into Key Stage 3. The programme requires close co-operation between primary and secondary schools over: o the use of assessment information to identify specific groups of pupils; O shared expectations of what the pupils involved can and ought to achieve; O the development of a shared understanding of teaching strategies and curriculum organisation; O communication with pupils and parents. 3 The characteristics of successful summer schools It is clear from evaluations of previous summer school programmes that the more successful schools made measurable improvements to pupils' English and mathematics skills through a focused programme of teaching, with clear objectives and carefully structured activities. Summer schools can also greatly improve pupils' attitudes to learning. The following key factors determine the success of summer schools. o The summer school should be coordinated by a teacher with expertise in literacy or mathematics. O The staff of each summer school should include primary teachers as well as secondary teachers. O Secondary schools should work closely with their partner primary schools at all stages of planning and teaching the summer school programme. o There should be written schemes of work based on a limited number of key objectives from the Frameworks for English and mathematics. 0) Crown copyright 2002 5 Making links: guidance for summer schools 5 O Dedicated time should be set aside for the teaching of literacy or mathematics, with extensive use of the key teaching approaches used in the Literacy Hour or daily mathematics lesson. O All staff involved in the summer school should be trained to teach the scheme of work, and should be given guidance about their specific role. Challenging but achievable targets should be set for each pupil. These should be negotiated between the Year 6 teacher, the summer school coordinator and the pupil. o Progress towards targets should be monitored throughout the summer school, and time built in to review the work of, and to give positive feedback to, individual pupils. o There should be a system to record individual pupils' progress and reward achievement, which could contribute to Year 7 records. The evaluations of the summer schools programmes revealed a number of other important features, which are highly desirable in future programmes. o Schools need to be informed as soon as possible about summer school provision so that preparation, including training and primary school liaison, can start early. e Summer schools are more successful where pupils have similar levels of attainment. If pupils with different levels of attainment are chosen, good differentiation is vital to ensure sufficient challenge is provided for all pupils. o A significant proportion of teaching should be direct, interactive and well-focused, engaging pupils in work that is appropriately challenging. It should build on their acquired knowledge and skills and teach pupils to apply ideas to work that is progressively harder. Target setting should be based on diagnostic assessment of pupils' needs carried out by the Year 6 teacher and shared with the summer school coordinator and the pupils. o Parents should be encouraged to contribute to their children's learning by supporting them at home and being aware of their children's targets. They should also ensure that their children's attendance is good. o The summer school should have a system of recording and communicating with pupils and parents, e.g. a daily diary. o The secondary school and its partner primary schools should give the summer school a high profile, e.g. a senior member of the secondary school staff should assist the coordinator and manage the day-to-day running of the summer school, to enable the coordinator to concentrate on planning the programme and organising the teaching. o Clear links should be made with the catch-up programmes in Year 7 and the targets and progress of the pupils attending the summer school should inform their entry into the catch-up programmes. Crown copyright 2002 Making links: guidance for summer schools 6 4 Aims and objectives Schools will be expected to follow the guidance in this document and to draw on the teaching units prepared for the summer schools. The organisers of summer schools need to know what they are setting out to do and to express their aims in clear terms. These aims should include: o a clear focus on what pupils, currently at level 3, need to achieve in order to reach the next attainment level in the National Curriculum English or mathematics. This will help both the selection of the pupils themselves and the content of the summer schools; o a focus in both planning and teaching on how progress achieved in the summer schools can be maintained when pupils formally enter secondary schooling. If these two criteria are met, it is more likely that summer schools will be successful in bringing pupils up to the required level and ensuring that they continue to make progress during Key Stage 3. In order to raise standards in English, summer literacy schools in previous years were advised to base their schemes of work on objectives which would improve pupils' skills in reading, writing and spelling, such as: building up pace and accuracy in reading to access meaning and maintain sense; o developing inferential skills in reading; o using reading to model writing; o securing their knowledge of spelling choices for medial vowel phonemes, e.g. required (requiered); o writing complex sentences using subordination and a range of connectives, particularly in non-narrative writing; o planning narrative structures, particularly conclusions; o understanding how to use paragraphing and other organisational devices, e.g. bullets, insets, to structure text. In order to raise standards in mathematics, most summer numeracy schools in previous years concentrated on teaching objectives covering the following areas: o using symbols correctly, including less than (<), more than (>), equals (=); o rounding any whole number less than 1000 to the nearest 10 or 100; o using known number facts and place value to add or subtract mentally, including any pairs of two-digit numbers; o knowing by heart all multiplication facts up to 10 x 10 and deriving the corresponding division facts; o multiplying and dividing any whole number up to 10 000 by 10 or 100; o developing appropriate vocabulary, e.g. thinking about the different ways questions in subtraction can be posed and the different contexts in which subtraction occurs; o solving simple word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. © Crown copyright 2002 Making links: guidance for summer schools 7 5 Creating the right climate In previous years, summer school staff have worked hard to create a welcoming environment for their pupils, with posters and display materials. Many schools made all their prime facilities available, including ICT suites, libraries, learning resource centres and sports facilities. Some summer schools provided areas for the pupils to relax in and play board games during break times. In the words of one teacher involved in a previous programme, 'Summer schools create an ideal climate in which teaching and learning can flourish'. Another teacher said, 'Although summer schools are short and intense they are above all enjoyable learning experiences where the commitment of both the pupils and staff can prove a very powerful combination. The fact that pupils and teachers are focused on a single task, uninterrupted by the demands of the full curriculum and the school day, means increased concentration and hard work.' 6 Management of summer schools Senior managers in the secondary school need to take the lead in introducing and managing summer school programmes, including developing and evaluating them. Their success in doing so will depend crucially on the effectiveness of liaison established with partner primary schools. It is important that the coordination of planning, teaching, learning and assessment is treated as a whole-school issue. Evidence from previous schemes shows that secondary schools that set up a single school management task group for planning both the summer school and the Year 7 catch-up programme, were more effective in meeting the aims of both initiatives. In planning for summer schools the task group should: coordinate contact with partner primary schools; O support the administration of the summer school; organise staff training for the summer school; o track pupils through the summer school and into Year 7; O plan a Year 7 catch-up programme for pupils who have attended the summer school; o monitor and evaluate the overall programme. The school task group should carry out the following functions: A. ESTABLISH CLOSE CONTACT WITH PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO IDENTIFY AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE FOR SUMMER SCHOOLS: those pupils likely to transfer to secondary school with levels of attainment in English or mathematics below level 4; those pupils most likely to benefit from summer school provision, both in terms of levels of attainment and the likelihood of regular attendance; o strengths and weaknesses in those pupils' abilities in English or mathematics; O pupils' experience of the daily literacy or mathematics lesson; 0 Crown copyright 2002 8 Making links: guidance for summer schools 8 a the potential for exploiting connections between the curriculum in Years 6 and 7, based on shared curriculum information; o opportunities for secondary staff to visit primary schools to meet pupils and Year 6 teachers. Secondary schools may find it helpful to send the sheet 'How primary schools can help' (page 38) to their partner primary schools. B. ORGANISE AND RUN A SUMMER LITERACY OR NUMERACY SCHOOL THAT PROVIDES THE SELECTED PUPILS WITH: a work planned against a limited number of key objectives drawn from the Frameworks for English and mathematics; a well-focused curriculum content and a balance of activities such as those based on the teaching units provided for summer schools; o teaching closely based on the organisation and teaching strategies recommended by the national strategies; o target setting, assessment and rewards that motivate pupils to succeed. C. SET CLEAR TARGETS FOR IMPROVEMENT: a agree targets for improving standards for summer school pupils; O translate these targets into curricular and learning targets for individual pupils; o ensure that these targets determine medium- and short-term planning; make pupils aware of what they will be learning over defined periods of time and involve them fully in evaluating their progress; o use the targets as the criteria for teachers' assessments; o ensure that parents are informed about and, wherever possible, involved in setting and reviewing their child's targets. D. ESTABLISH CLOSE LINKS WITH PARENTS TO: inform them about the programmes; o involve them in assessing their child's needs; o support and motivate pupils; O secure support for homework activities; a involve them in the programme wherever it is possible and appropriate. 7 Staffing the summer schools and training In previous years the majority of summer schools employed at least one qualified teacher for every ten pupils. Although most schools used the same staff throughout the summer school, in about 30% of schools some of the teachers changed. This discontinuity of staffing had a detrimental effect in some summer schools. This was particularly so where teachers worked for only a few days and therefore did not get to know the pupils well and could not make judgements about their progress. In effective summer schools, where there was a change of teachers, the coordinator established good planning and hand-over arrangements to ensure continuity. 0 Crown copyright 2002 Making links: guidance for summer schools 9 The role of the summer school coordinator The involvement of a summer school coordinator with extensive experience of teaching literacy or mathematics to lead the team has been a key factor in the success of summer schools to date. In the best summer schools these were teachers holding positions of responsibility in the secondary school, usually a head of, or second in department. These teachers were actively involved in teaching rather than administration. The headteacher will need to provide the coordinator with the time to prepare and plan thoroughly for the summer school, including visiting partner primary schools taking part. It is helpful if the secondary school provides primary schools with some funding to release the Year 6 teacher to meet the summer school coordinator for essential tasks such as setting pupil targets. Key tasks for the coordinator include: o planning the teaching time; o time for evaluation and discussion; o the deployment of staff. Teaching staff The summer school coordinator needs to be supported by a core teaching team that includes staff with experience and training in literacy or mathematics. Many schools have had experience of participation in literacy and mathematics development projects and family literacy and numeracy initiatives. Others have links with organisations such as the Basic Skills Agency. It is important to draw on such experience. Summer schools should make staff aware of the opportunity to help with the summer school programme as early as possible so that time for training and planning can be built in. Most summer schools employ staff from both primary and secondary school backgrounds. Secondary teachers usually teach in the school's English or mathematics department, but in a few programmes the staff come from a range of departments, including modern languages, science, information technology and history. The role of primary school staff is of vital importance. They bring up-to-date knowledge of the needs of many of the children attending the summer school. Their experiences of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and of teaching the Key Stage 2 curriculum in primary schools are invaluable. They are aware of how children have been prepared for the transfer to secondary school and local liaison arrangements from a primary viewpoint. The chance to work with secondary colleagues is valuable, giving them an insight into the next stage of their pupils' education. A balance of experience within the team is helpful. Newly qualified teachers can bring a freshness and enthusiasm to summer schools, which can prove invigorating for all concerned. Retired staff who are experienced in teaching English or mathematics, or with special needs teaching experience, can be a valuable extra resource to draw upon. © Crown copyright 2002 10