Case study: St Robert of
Newminster Catholic School
impressive. Out of the 19 pupils who took part,
16 achieved a grade C or above in English. One boy
achieved an A grade and three others got Bs.
“If you are talking about success stories, Study
Plus has really made a diff erence,” said Ms Reed.
“I now teach one of the pupils at A level and he
said to me recently ‘if I hadn’t done Study Plus, I
wouldn’t have got my C and I wouldn’t be doing
A levels now’. It’s lovely to have seen him blossom
– and a real affi rmation of the Study Plus approach.
We are now in our third year of Study Plus and it is
continuing on with positive success.”
Following on from St Robert of Newminster’s
success with Study Plus, the local authority asked
T
EACHER HELEN Reed is delighted the school to pilot Literacy Plus from September
by the impact the Study Plus approach 2009. It is obviously early days, but a group of 21
has had in helping to raise pupils’ year 7 pupils now have two hours of Literacy Plus
attainment at St Robert of Newminster timetabled each week – with the aim of helping
Catholic School and Sixth Form College. them to achieve Level 4 in English by the end of
Th e 1,800 pupil school, which is situated in the summer term.
Washington, Tyne and Wear, and has one of the St Robert of Newminster is also using the
largest 6th forms in the country, was asked to pilot Reading Challenge programme to support year
Study Plus in English from 2007. 7 and year 8 learners whose reading skills are
Teachers chose around 19 key stage 4 pupils who, below expectations. Th e scheme involves schools
although they had the potential to get a grade C in identifying a key reading target for each pupil and
GCSE English, looked like they might not achieve then organising individual coaching geared towards
this. In many cases they were “quiet” students who that target. Coaches can be teaching assistants,
were vulnerable to underperformance and who, in adult volunteers or senior pupils. In St Robert
some cases, lacked confi dence. of Newminster’s case, the school asked 6th form
Th e Study Plus sessions take place for two students to get involved.
hours a week in year 10 and one hour a week Every year around 30 6th-formers volunteer to
in year 11 and are staff ed by an English teacher support year 7 and year 8 pupils who need help
and a classroom assistant or “learning mentor”. Th e with their reading.
sessions tend to be skills-based and students thrive “Th ey are asked if they would like to make a
on working on units of work with short-term goals. diff erence in the life of a younger child who is
“It seemed to make a diff erence when they were struggling to read,” explained Ms Reed.
aiming towards completing something in a couple “We ask students who might be interested in
of weeks,” said Ms Reed, second in English, who going into teaching or a caring profession and train
taught the fi rst cohort of Study Plus pupils. “Th ey them. Th ey then run one-to-one reading sessions
particularly enjoyed being able to take the skills they for half an hour on Monday lunchtimes, and
learned during these sessions and then apply them although it’s hard to quantify in terms of success, it
across the curriculum.” seems to be going very well. We have seen distinct
Th e impact the Study Plus approach made to the improvements in the younger pupils’ reading and
fi rst cohort of Study Plus students at GCSE was they seem to grow in confi dence and self-esteem.”
SecEd 5
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