New innovative writing project improves literacy outcomes for disadvantaged Sunderland children
The project has also seen the creation of a new digital assessment tool
Early indications suggest an innovative project is having a positive impact on the literacy of the disadvantaged children in the city.
The Roots to Writing project, led by Southmoor Academy, has received £165,000 of funding from the charitable trust, SHINE Sunderland.
The initiative aims to improve GCSE English outcomes by strengthening writing skills before pupils reach Year 10. It is designed with a Sunderland focus, so that “writing feels personal, meaningful and relevant to pupils”.
The project uses carefully designed teaching resources to identify gaps in writing and provide targeted support.
The initial signs look very positive, with 60 pupils receiving the targeted Roots to Writing intervention. Assessment tests showed 46.7% of those receiving the intervention met the writing standard compared with 34% of pupils who did not receive the intervention.
83% of disadvantaged pupils receiving the intervention met the project’s ‘Strong Foundations’ writing standard, compared with 24.4% of disadvantaged pupils who did not receive the intervention.
The intervention programme certainly seems to have had a particularly positive impact on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Among pupils with SEND, 50% receiving the intervention met the standard, compared with 18% of those who did not.
The project is based around the fundamental principle that pupils are more likely to become confident writers when teaching begins with an accurate understanding of their needs.
The project’s diagnostic assessment identifies specific barriers to writing, from sentence construction to whole-text organisation, allowing teachers to provide targeted support through carefully sequenced writing activities rooted in familiar local contexts.
A project spokesperson said: “Early findings provide encouraging evidence that the intervention is having the greatest impact among the pupils it was designed to support.
“Alongside improvements in writing, the project has generated strong engagement from pupils. Teachers report that pupils produce a full page of writing during every intervention lesson – considerably more than originally anticipated – and that behaviour during sessions is noticeably positive.”
A key feature of the project has also been the creation of a new digital software diagnostic tool to help accurately assess individual literacy starting points for each child.
The structured approach developed through Roots to Writing has been adopted more widely within Southmoor Academy’s English department, including at GCSE level.
The intervention has already been introduced into a second school, with additional schools scheduled to join.
The SHINE Trust is backed by local businesses to provide £11m of funding over the next 10 years to “address the barriers to success that students in Sunderland encounter”.