"LIT has proven to be a very effective programme over the years. Students have shown progress in their literacy skills throughout their participation in the programme"
About the school
Winchmore is an 11-18 mixed community secondary school in Winchmore Hill, Greater London. It was judged a ‘good’ school by Ofsted in June 2022. The school is a loyal user of the Hackney Education LIT Programme and has been successfully running the programme since 2016.
LIT Programme implementation
For the past 5 years, the programme has been run under the supervision and strategy of the school’s LIT Lead, Asha Lutchmun, who is also the Access Coordinator & SEND Literacy Coordinator.
It operates in place of regular English sessions for students identified with low reading ages with both Year 7s and 8s, who have 7 hours and 8 hours of LIT lessons every 2 weeks, respectively, which Asha says, helps students to value the lessons as their mainstream lessons.
Asha provides regular training and coaching sessions to teachers providing the lessons, usually shadowing and mentoring the teachers who are new to the process.
Some additional thoughts from Asha:
"Since we implemented the LIT Programme as part of the English faculty Year 7 curriculum, and working in close partnership with the Head of English and Senior Leadership Team, we have noticed a significant improvement in the management, organisation and delivery of the programme. It is now more high profile and more embedded into the whole school approach of improving literacy levels across Key Stage 3."
Impact of the LIT Programme
Although there was a bit of a slowdown over the pandemic period, Winchmore school has seen continued impressive improvement and many standout successes over the years that we have been working with them.
In 2017-18, Year 7 as a whole gained an average of 35 months to their individual reading ages. This is 3.9 times the expected progression.
"In 2020-21, which was one of our trickiest years, due to pandemic slowdown and less face-to-face teaching, we still saw tremendous progress, with the Year 7s gaining 22 months. Our highest rated pupil went from 8.03 to 12.05 over the 12 months. He gained a whopping 4 years 2 months to his reading age!"
This success was again repeated this most recent year, with Winchmore’s Year 7s gaining on average 23 months from 2021-2022, with the highest gain at 42 months. Another 3.5+ year increase in just 12 months!
What the LIT teachers think
On seeing a difference in pupils...
"I have personally noticed - and students have shared with me - that they are more motivated and interested in reading fiction since they started the LIT Programme. Also the fact that I read to the class on a regular basis encouraged more students to get back into reading for pleasure!"
"The smaller group setting also helped them feel more confident to read out loud in lessons and contribute more freely to class discussions without feeling judged by their classmates. I had a student who was extremely shy and to see her coming out of her shell and contributing freely was great!""I also had a student last year who had a lot of trouble focusing and following the school rules (his behaviour log was quite long) and who always said that he loved his English (LIT Programme) lessons because he was able to thrive in a smaller setting where the work was pitched to his level. With the right amount of praise and motivation, he was able to go from a reading age of 9:06 to 12:03."
On the ease and practicality of the programme…
"The resources provided are excellent. The teaching plans are very useful and the layout of the lessons in the Pupil Booklets are child friendly and easy to follow. Unit 1 Spooky Stories is always the students' favourite unit."