December 2015
OGM Survey
As part of the Evaluation of impact, all OGM schools complete a student and teacher survey to explore attitudes to
Literacy at different stages in the project. Schools have been incorporating this into Library Lessons, Computer
lessons and making time to talk about Literacy as part of conducting the survey with students. The deadline for the
start of year survey is December 18th. You should have received a reminder email with your school’s link to the
survey from Amber, but please contact us if you have any questions.
[email protected]
Reading Training Review
What’s working?
Reading CPD took place in November and December for
Subject Leads. Feedback has been positive with lots of
practical examples given for how to put learning into practice
and share back at school. You said:
We have seen and
heard about some
exciting resources and
strategies that schools
are trialling as part of
the programme.
“I am going to help my department to build up a bank of tier 3
subject specific words that appear in texts and create a point
based system to encourage children to use them“
“This will be useful to share with my team of TAs. We will have
a think about using Reciprocal Reading and making reading
strategies more explicit in our nurture groups”.
All training materials and resources shared are available from
the OGM forum
Literacy Assessment Resources
Many of you have expressed an interest in building up a
Literacy Wide tool to support assessment. This was discussed
at the last face to face Network meeting. Thank you to Katie
Shires from Icknield who has sent in a very useful writing
assessment tool. Please send in any resources you find useful
for assessing reading and writing. These will be collated and
used to inform a valuable tool for all OGM schools to access
on the forum.
Please send resources to [email protected]
Standardisation of Writing
There have been requests to build a bank of subject specific
samples of writing to help teachers and students build a clearer
understanding of the writing expectations for exam in different
subject areas. Literacy Leads will be asked to collate one piece of
above average, expected and below average writing from each
department. These can be bought to the next Writing training- (Ph1
26 February and Ph2 25 February) These will inform discussion+ of
the next Face to Face forum and be made into a standardised
booklet as a resource to support departments with their “life after
levels” work.
Here are a few
examples you may like to try:
Jo Summers, Subject Lead at Fitzharrys has
begun making use of Reciprocal Reading
approaches to build understanding of subject
specific vocabulary needed to peer assess
practical performances in music. She has also
shared her learning with the PE department so
that they can start to develop strategies to further
support the written element of these otherwise
practically assessed subjects.
Matthew Snook from Carterton has trialled a
reading aloud approach. As Literacy Lead, he
has introduced 20 minutes of reading aloud
during form time with teachers or key stage 4
students reading designated pages. He chose
The Pearl by John Steinbeck which has “hooked”
students and been popular with both girls and
boys generating some excellent discussion.
Connor Brown from Bartholomew School has
developed a clear marking strategy for
monitoring and supporting student progress
within SPAG. English book inserts also include a
note to parents with some handy tips for talking
to their children about what they are reading and
learning. The Art Department created some
excellent writing templates and the Year 7
Readathon has also been extremely successful.
If you have any approaches that have worked for
you pleased get in touch and share. We love to
hear about it!
OX Tales Competition
Peer Coaching
There has been real
excitement and
enthusiasm about the
OGM competition Ox
Tales. Fitzharrys school
has adopted a whole
school approach with all
students busy writing up their stories about a local area of
choice.
All schools received peer coaching earlier in the
term. While a Literacy driven CPD plan can be a
successful start to improvement, it is far more beneficial if it is disseminated and implemented
through peer coaching. This cycle of sharing, trialling and reflecting in pairs or small groups has been
proven to drive motivation, an ethos of support and
overall improvement in teaching and learning. As a
department or in coaching pairs, you could trial
specific strategies in your classrooms and feed
back at departmental meetings, you could also
share ideas gained in training, trial with students
and feedback on effectiveness.
The competition will close on Friday 8 January entries
should be submitted to Amber Finch.
Author ambassador Frances Hardinge recently shared with
the Oxford Mail her thoughts on writing:
Time can often be the most limiting factor in
schools for adopting a new strategy. However the
peer coaching model can be adopted within your
current time allocated for development and departmental sharing. Some ideas for incorporating this
could include:

Buddying up to share PPA time to plan and
reflect
Frances’ full interview can be read here.

Including OGM training feedback and examples of implementation on Departmental
meeting agendas
In the Press

Using IRIS or other video technology to peer
observe and reflect.

Giving a theme or focus to paired or recorded observations.

Creating a simple coaching tracker grid to
record conversations, ideas planned and
findings to share at Department meetings.
John O Regan from Gosford Hill was recently interviewed
by the Oxford Mail. John gave some excellent examples of
how the OGM competition has enthused staff and
encouraged boys’ writing. To read the full article click here.
.
Please get in touch with any information on how
coaching is going in your school, whether to share
successes or difficulties.
[email protected]
OGM Festivals
The festivals will take place Thursday 16 June (phase 1)
and Friday 17 June (phase 2).
We have one act already confirmed, performance poet
Adisa. Oxford Brookes university are also kindly offering
a workshop in their fully equipped TV studio.
Finally
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of the team at the National Literacy Trust. Thank you to all the staff,
children and Governors working with us to make this project a success. We wish you all a restful break and look forward to
returning to read all of the wonderful competition entries in the New Year!