In Term 1 all children in Year 1 will receive high quality teaching in the literacy hour. A training programme, an assessment package and a trained Teaching Assistant (TA) will support the teaching. In that first Term it is expected that Quality First Teaching and assessment will identify and address any difficulties or gaps in learning for the majority of children. Towards the end of Term 1 the teacher and Teaching Assistant will identify those children who need a more intensive programme of support – research indicates this may be about 20 per cent of an average class (that is, a group of about 6 children).
In Term 2 all children will continue to be supported as in Term 1 but in addition the identified group will receive a daily planned programme of support from the Teaching Assistant.
By Term 3 it is expected that most children will no longer need daily additional support although some may need continuing group support whilst others may be identified, through assessment, as needing individual support.

The aim of the programme is to reduce the percentage of children needing individual support from approximately 20 per cent of the class to no more than 5 per cent.

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Q2: Which group of children is it for?

A2: The Intervention is designed to support all children identified for additional support at the end of Y1 Term 1.

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Q3: What about children learning English as an Additional Language (EAL)?

A3: ELS is likely to be beneficial for children who are learning EAL. It is important to distinguish between literacy difficulties and proficiency in English. You should consult with your EMAG service for further advice and support.

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Q4: When does the programme start?

A4: It starts with 'Quality First Teaching' training in the Summer Term of 2001 although school-based activity begins in the Autumn Term 2001.

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Q5: How will the teaching assistants be able to carry out this work?

A5: The teacher and the Teaching Assistant (TA) will be trained together – this was found to be very effective during Aditional Literacy Support training. The TA will work under the guidance of the teacher at all times. The programme of work, which the TA will deliver to the group, will be tightly planned and will link with work taught by the teacher in the literacy hour. In the pilot phase of the programme, time for liaison between the teacher and TA was found to be essential.

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Q6: Where and when will the ELS sessions take place?

A6: The schools involved in the pilot developed a variety of approaches;

time was found at the beginning of the afternoon, first thing in the morning, or last thing in the afternoon and there were examples of pre-school ELS clubs. The important thing is to ensure that the children don't miss the same thing every day and participate in the whole of the daily mathematics lesson and the literacy hour;
the best examples were found when the intervention sessions took place in a dedicated space – usually away from the class. However, this is not always possible and a corner or space in the classroom can work well. Wherever the sessions are located it is important to display work and give the Teaching Assistant a base from which to work.

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Q7: How many classes can be involved?

A7: In the first year the aim is to support one teacher and one Teaching Assistant from every school attended by Key Stage 1 children. If you have more than one Y1 class you may wish to consider:

disseminating the training in school and including more classes;
using the trained Teaching Assistant to support more classes;
creating a group from more than one class;
funding the training and deployment of additional Teaching Assistants using school resources.

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Q8: What if some children do not make progress?

A8: The programme aims to significantly reduce the number of children who fail to make good progress in Key Stage 1. At the present time, too many children leave this stage with poor literacy skills. However, it is recognised that a small minority of children will continue to need support even after high quality teaching and ELS additional support in a group. Further (wave 3) support could include one-to-one programmes like Reading Recovery.

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Q9: How does this ELS fit with the Additional Literacy Support (ALS) programme?

A9: The aim of ELS is to locate and support those children who are most at risk, thus preventing long-term failure and reducing the tail of underachievement.

ALS was introduced to address the needs of children in Y3 and 4 who had not benefited from the NLS and who had insecure literacy skills. As more children come into Key Stage 2 having had the benefit of NLS and the second chance of ELS, we expect that in the future fewer children will need ALS. It is recognised that some children do fall behind for a whole variety of intellectual, social and emotional reasons and, for these children, ALS will continue to provide a sound programme of support.

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Q10: Does the ELS programme encourage parental and carers' support?

A10: Yes; the contribution of parents and carers is built into the planning and home activities are included each week. Parents and carers who actively participate in the intervention will accelerate their child's progress. However, the programme is designed to be self-standing and is not reliant on children completing activities at home.

We are hoping to work with other agencies to ensure that the materials for parents and carers are translated into a range of community languages.

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Q11: Who will deliver the training and support to schools?

A11: There is money to support this in the Standards Fund for 2001-2002. Literacy Consultants, expert literacy teachers and headteachers and advisory teachers could be used by the LEA to deliver training and support.

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Q12: What about ongoing support and training?

A12: In the pilot, ongoing support for Teaching Assistants delivering the ELS was found to be very important. This included informal networks, twilights and drop-in sessions offered by the LEA as well as ongoing support in school.

It is important to monitor the ELS programme and provide feedback to the Teaching Assistant and class teacher. This will include both school-led monitoring and evaluations provided by the LEA and other outside bodies. Teaching Assistants have greatly appreciated feedback on the sessions especially when their peers and teachers or trainers known to them have been involved in the process.

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Q13: How can schools afford this?

A13: All LEAs have received funding for non-pilot schools to provide training and supply cover for:

one Y1 teacher, a Teaching Assistant and a Reception teacher to attend a Quality First Teaching training day;
one Y1 teacher and Teaching Assistant to attend 2 further training days.

All schools not included in the pilot will receive additional resources through the Standards Fund to release the Y1 teacher and Teaching Assistant to complete the school-based element of the training programme - one and half days each and £350 to purchase additional resources, including the ELS resources trolley.

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