Case study:
Pleckgate
High School
W
HEN SCIENCE teacher Fiona Ms Hope uses a range of diff erent literacy
Hope volunteered to take part strategies in her lessons and also supports other
in the secondary EAL pilot in teachers at Pleckgate and across the Blackburn
2006 she had no idea what a huge with Darwen authority. She runs CPD sessions,
impact it would have – both on the progress of her does one-to-one support with teachers, and has
own pupils at Pleckgate High School and beyond. showcased the work in a DVD for the Strategies.
Th e programme at the Blackburn-based school “If I am teaching renewable and non-renewable
proved so successful that the local authority rolled energy, for example, I write some text about each,”
it out as an authority-wide literacy improvement said Ms Hope. “I put the pupils in groups and they
programme called Language for Learning. Not read the text with dictionaries, work out what it
only that, Ms Hope has been granted advanced is saying, and prepare a visual guide to help them
skills teacher status on the strength of her work understand it. Th en I take the text away, and using
with the programme and is now a lead practitioner the visual guide, they have to explain it to the
for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. other pupils. It’s a question of engaging with the
A school with 1,200 pupils on roll, many of text, understanding what they are doing, and using
them EAL learners, Pleckgate prides itself on academic language to communicate.”
being a multicultural community that values the
eff orts of all. When it got involved in the secondary
As well as improving pupils’ literacy,
EAL pilot to develop advanced EAL learners’
literacy, the school decided to focus its work it has helped them to develop their
in the fi rst instance on a year 7 science class
taught by Ms Hope.
Personal, Learning and Thinking
“I chose pupils who had achieved a Level 4 in
key stage 2 science, so on the face of it were quite
Skills, group-work, independence,
competent scientists,” explained Ms Hope. “But
‘and to take responsibility
they were also pupils who had only got Level 3 in
English, which made us think that they might not Teachers and students alike have been hugely
make the progress we wanted them to make. supportive of the programme: “Teachers say that
“Science is still a subject that relies on reading, it is brilliant, not just for academic performance,
writing and understanding, so throughout my but for pupil engagement, motivation and
lessons I concentrated on making literacy explicit enjoyment,” said Ms Hope. “As well as improving
using the strategies I was taught through the pilot. pupils’ literacy, it has helped them to develop their
“Th e local authority consultants really helped me Personal, Learning and Th inking Skills, group-work,
develop my pedagogy during training days and then independence, and to take responsibility.”’
I would come back to the lesson, do the activities Pleckgate now asks all subject leaders who are not
with the children, and assess them regularly. By the English specialists to deliver at least one lesson with
end of year 9 they had made excellent progress and “explicit literacy strategies” every half-term.
now they are in year 10 they are all in higher sets “Once you develop the skills, you fi nd that you’re
than they would have been. Th e work has had such doing it anyway, without even realising it,” said
an impact that we have decided to run it out across Ms Hope. “It’s very much part of our routine at
the whole school and in every subject area.” Pleckgate High School now.”
SecEd 15
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