A comprehensive KS3 intervention writing skills programme with staff training.

I am pleased to share with you a full intervention programme that I used for several years to tackle under-performance in writing at KS3 - a key areas of focus for a lot of pupils.

The programme begins with a very brief training session that you deliver to your staff. This is an introduction to the extra, mini assessment that pupils sit at the start of each half-term in various skills - sentence types (SP1), punctuation (SP2) and spelling (SUM1). Pupils sit the assessment at the start of the half-term and resit the SAME assessment at the end of the half-term to see if they have improved their points score. The assessment is a 10 minute task. There is no assessment for spelling in SUM1 so a score out of 5 will need to be given for pupils’ book work at the start of the term and then at the end.

Ensure that your staff mark the ‘first attempt’ within a few days so pupils know their score and can fill out their ‘record sheet’. Pupils stick the record sheet in their books and there is space to set achievable targets. Emphasise to your staff that the marking is really quick. Get staff to record scores out of 5 on a simple database. Pupils will then repeat the SAME assessment at the end of the half-term to see if they have improved their score. Pupils get a score out of 15 at the end of the year.

Throughout that specific term’s focus, ensure that your staff work on these areas (sentence types, punctuation, spelling). I have included a full intervention mini scheme for all of the specific areas - this includes mini tasks on sentence types and punctuation that are thorough and engaging. These tasks allow pupils to make accelerated progress in these areas and can be used in conjunction with any scheme of work and can be inserted into the start of any lesson.

I have also included two withdrawal intervention sessions that can be delivered to small withdrawal groups near the end of the programme.

I have also included a full and comprehensive training PowerPoint that can be used to train staff on intervening effectively within the classroom.

This intervention scheme is an absolute must-have for any Head of English and is accessible for all pupils of all different range of abilities. By the end of the programme, a huge majority of KS3 had made accelerated progress in writing and the scheme set Year 9 up with a high-standard of writing in preparation for KS4.