Moving beyond the floor target case study: White's Wood Lane Junior School, Lincolnshire

Local authority support and challenge

whole-school attainment and progress in literacy and mathematics
acceleration of target children
development of skills and key aspects of learning
appointment of key staff and deployment of teachers to ensure Quality First teaching
to ensure that all staff work as a team and have a shared agenda through ownership of the RAP
support the development of effective tracking and monitoring systems
development of transition between the feeder infant school and the junior school.

Role of SIP, LA adviser, consultants and peer mentor head:

LA provided very good support and advice and has been involved in the termly review and writing of the RAP
ISP/literacy consultant spent 23 days in the school, working with staff and offering continuity of support
introduction of Hard to Shift agenda
development of SEAL and pupil voice
mathematics consultant has offered a range of support, including leading professional development meetings, coaching and one-to-one support for staff
training for subject leaders on monitoring, evaluation and effective assessment
LA consultants and advisers work alongside staff in developing effective monitoring and evaluation procedures
role of SIP seen as crucial to school improvement; links between the school and the SIP school are developing, as are those with the peer mentor head
effective LA systems in place to coordinate support, communicate actions and review progress.

provision of RAISEonline, Fischer Family Trust (FFT) and LA data which provided local and national comparisons for specific categories of learners
ISP consultant working closely with staff and monitoring pupil progress meetings
additional support for monitoring and evaluation through Hard to Shift classification
core group meetings, LA reviews
LA working directly with the staff to monitor and evaluate progress against targets at all levels to achieve green ISP judgements
to ensure that by 2008 the percentage of children achieving Level 4 and above shows measurable value added over and above expectations for Year 6 cohort.

Information and data used to measure progress included:

Impact has been that the school has moved from 59 per cent Level 4+ in English in 2006 to 79 per cent in 2007 giving a 20 per cent gain. In mathematics figures have moved from Level 4 59 per cent to 74 per cent, showing a 15 per cent gain. Thirty-seven out of forty-five children made three sub levels progress in writing and 33 out of 45 made three sub levels progress in mathematics.
'The outcomes of the 2007 end of key stage tests exemplify the profound impact changes in the organisation of staffing in Year 6 have had.'
Children are more actively involved in knowing how well they are doing, and are increasingly able to articulate what they need to do to improve.
Impact of support from the ISP team across the school can be seen in greater security of teacher assessments.
Children are being more accurately and effectively identified for targeted intervention.
The school is acquiring an 'achievement culture.'