Materials to Support "Raising Boys Achievement"

Introduction

These materials are part of a wider set that were produced as part of a pilot activity with schools in Birmingham.
They were produced for Birmingham Education Service and for the Birmingham Core Skills Development Partnership
by staff of CSD – a consultancy agency.

Prompts for Review and DevelopmentSection

Purposes

These materials are intended to help raise boys’ achievement in Literacy in primary schools. Clearly, however, most of the material can be applied with equal success to underattainment / underachievement in any subject or pupil cohort.The materials have been designed to:

  • enable you to review your current practice at different levels
  • prompt thinking
  • give guidance on developing strategies and frameworks.
The materials are based on a series of questions and are intended as a tool for self review. They draw on good practice both locally and nationally. They are one of many tools available to help schools undertake the self-review emphasised by OFSTED.The materials have been organised in discrete sections aimed at different key groups who can influence achievement. While it is possible to use sections separately, it is important to be aware of how they link together and impact upon each other. In practice, it will be found that no section can be used in total isolation from some others.Raising boys’ achievement in Literacy should be seen as a whole school issue and should involve governors, SMT, all staff, parents and pupils.

What is Expected of Schools Using These Materials?

  • Use a range of assessment to identify boys’ levels of attainment.
  • Demonstrate that they can take a whole school approach to improving achievement.
  • Draw on existing good practice.
  • Use self-review of policies and practice related to boys’ learning.
  • Evaluate the materials and approaches used in order to inform further improvement.

How to Use

The headteacher and senior management team should familiarise themselves with the whole document in order to decide on the area or areas of focus. If possible the focus area should be linked to an existing priority identified in the school improvement plan. e.g.

  • working with parents
  • setting individual pupil targets
  • developing the special needs team.
Review of the materials will confirm that you are already doing many of the things which help to raise boys’ achievement.Use the prompt questions for the section chosen as a starting point. When questions can be answered positively it may be that further development is not necessary. When the response is negative it indicates that further work is needed. In order to address this it will be helpful to consider the prompt questions in other sections and the implications for policy and practice in these areas.In most cases, you are probably taking some of the necessary action.The flow Chart below illustrates the process.

Definitions of terms used

The following terms may have one or more meaning in general use. They are defined for the purposes of this document as follows.By attainment we mean the level of a pupil’s literacy performance in relation to the performance expected of a pupil of his/her age. Therefore, by underattainment we mean a pupil whose literacy performance is at a lower level than that expected of a pupil of his/her age.By achievement we mean the level of a pupil’s literacy performance in relation to their individual potential. Therefore, by underachievement we mean a pupil whose literacy performance is at a lower level than their potential.N.B. a high attaining pupil may be underachieving if he/she is not meeting his/her potential.For the sake of brevity in the document, where the terms attainment and achievement are both relevant, achievement has been used.

By Key Policies we mean:

Assessment All Curriculum Subjects Literacy (Reading Writing Speaking Listening)
Behaviour Staff development Display
SEN Teaching and learning Resources
Equal opportunities Marking and recording Home school liaison

N.B. schools may use different names for these policies and may have additional policies that are key to their practice.By literacy we mean all reading, writing, speaking and listening skills which many schools will refer to as ‘English’Targets or pupil targets, can mean targets or objectives for whole school, pupil cohorts or individual achievement or learning. All targets should be specific and measurable