Mastery

English

PrimaryProgramme

LEARNING UNLIMITEDTEACHING SCHOOL ALLIANCE

What isMastery English?An English curriculum rooted in the use of high quality texts which are used expertly by inspirational, passionate teachers to produce children who can write exciting, technically skilled extended pieces of writing at the end of each unit. Reading comprehension and grammatical knowledge are taught in context to facilitate deep and meaningful learning.

Key Principles

BeliefAn absolute belief that everychild can achieve

FocusFocus on why children can succeed,rather than why they will fail

ExpectationsKnowing children's life chances depend onthem achieving age related expectations

AttainmentLearning to value attainmentrather than ability

OpportunitiesRemoval of fixed ideas about innate ability:opportunities rather than genetics

ProgressGaps in learning addressedbefore the next lesson

What Does It Look Like In Practice?It is assumed that the majority of schools will be offering a phonics-based programme in EYFS and Year 1. Once the children graduate from the phonics programme, they move onto the Mastery English Programme in Year 2. The principles of the programme and some of the key strategies are also used in EYFS and Year 1, such as high quality story time; reading to the children every single day. The Mastery English programme runs from Years 2 to Year 6.

There are typically and they are selected to be ambitious so three whole class texts per yearthat they are just above what the class could comfortably access to provide challenge and to take the learning to greater depth.

How Was Mastery English Developed?Mastery English started as a project at St Thomas of Canterbury School in Sheffield, which then evolved into a research and development project across 14 schools. Expert teachers have trialled this approach and continued to develop it over time.

Why Is Mastery English Needed?Ÿ Low achievement in reading, writing, grammar and punctuation is still a major issue, particularly for

disadvantaged pupils.

Ÿ GDP in 2025 could be £32bn higher if action had been taken to ensure all children were reading well by the age of 11.

Ÿ A wide "book gap" in Britain has emerged, with almost a quarter of 11-year-olds in the poorest families having fewer than 10 books in their home.

Ÿ While books remain popular, the most commonly read material by children is now text messages with websites and ebooks also growing in popularity.

ReadingChildren are not restricted to uninspiring, simple reading books but are encouraged to develop a love of reading through immersion in a high quality class text. Every child has their own copy of the book; reading comprehension skills are taught in context with class texts being chosen to match the attainment of the most competent readers in the class. Classic texts are used either in their entirety or in parts to supplement the whole class texts.

Grammar & PunctuationAs with reading, Grammar and punctuation is taught within the context of the class texts. Sentences from the text are explored and children are taught how to apply the skills they see the authors using in their own writing.

WritingChildren are expected to write a technically-skilled, extended piece of writing at the end of each unit following lessons exploring and evaluating the genre of writing. Over each term, children become immersed in their class book and write a range of writing genres related to it including both fiction and non-fiction.

Each unit of work, which usually lasts 2 weeks (or 10 days), includes 4 main sections:

ExploreReading comprehension, featurehunts, genre exploration

PlanSentence and word level work,vocabulary and punctuation

WriteExtended writing at the endof every unit

Edit/Evaluate Reflect upon and improve whathas already been written

d!Each Mastery English lesson features 6 parts and is punctuated by regular assessment forlearning in the form of checkpoints throughout the lesson.

What Does A Lesson Look Like?

Certainties:Ÿ Pupils believe they can achieve – they want to learn and enjoy learning English

Ÿ Teacher conveys the message that progress is made through engagement and effort, expects every child to succeed, and is enthusiastic about the learning expected.

Ÿ Every lesson has the whole class text on the tables and available to children.

Ÿ Teacher models high quality writing and thinking as a writer in every lesson

Ÿ Comprehension, SPAG and writing development are woven into the lesson

Engage

Whole class

No direct teaching

Assess understanding of new skill OR consolidate one

previously learned

GoingDeeper

Whole class

Extension of new learning to show depth of understanding

Introduce

Whole class

Direct teaching

Misconceptions included

Consider& Practice

Paired work

Practising the skill taught

Recorded formally or informally

Reflect

Share/Celebrate

Edit and evaluate

Focus on metacognition

IndependentTask

Whole class

Support/scaffold offered where necessary

Extension tasks used to show depth of understanding

CHECKPOINT

CHECKPOINT

CH

EC

KPO

INT C

HEC

KPO

INT

CH

EC

KPO

INT

6-PARTLESSON FLOW

Is there any evidence that it works?Mastery English could be described as a promising project. The 2016-2017 research and development project through Learning Unlimited Teaching School Alliance involved testing this approach with a group of expert teachers across 14 schools with approximately 580 pupils involved. The expert teachers met every half term to share their findings and to make suggestions to develop the approach further.

One of the key measures for the project was the Progress in Reading Assessment. PiRA is a standardised, curriculum-linked series of tests designed for whole-class use, with pupils of all abilities. Uniquely, it offers three tests for each Primary school year, enabling schools to monitor pupils' progress in Reading term by term.

From December 2016 to July 2017 (two terms) there was an increase of 6 in the average standardised score. This represents excellent progress given that it is across whole cohorts and the tests actually become more challenging each term therefore just to maintain the same standardised score would have reflected strong progress.

What Did The Children Think?

My writing hasimproved this

year872 responses

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

I feel a more confidentwriter this year than

last year874 responses

50.5%

30.9%15.3%

47.3%

36.6%

11.5%

30.4%

36.3%

23.7%

8.1%

I enjoy readingmore this yearthan last year

874 responses

What Do Teachers Think?

The children enjoy fully exploring a text and taking time to discuss each chapter at length. The

checkpoints are useful.“ “

Much higher standards of English and quality of work produced by children. Access to quality texts, which has improved vocabulary. More engaging for children to have

their own copy of the text.

“ “

Whole Class discussion on text which motivates all children - exposure to more complex texts children

wouldn’t normally choose to read.“ “

Ÿ 6.0 increase in average standardised score across 580 pupils over 2 terms.

Ÿ 17% increase in the proportion of pupils at EXS in writing.

Ÿ 76.2% of teachers are spending less time marking.

Impact on Teacher WorkloadUnder 30minutes

Between 30 mins& 60 mins

Between 1& 2 hrs

Between 2& 3 hrs

Over 3hours

54.5%

31.8%

9.1%

How much time did you spendmarking English books last year

on average per week?22 responses

How much time do you spendmarking English books now

on average per week?24 responses

25%16.7%

41.7%16.7%

A significantreduction in the time

spent on marking

Which of these characteristics apply to the marking system?(Tick as many as you think apply)

Meaningful

Motivating

Manageable

21 (87.5%)

13 (54.2%)

20 (83.3%)

Linking tothe three

Ms

High expectations of reading through class texts. Teaching SPAG within the teaching blocks then applying this independent writing immediately.

“ “

Consistency, whole text, follow up prompts.“

“ Growth mindset, teaching through whole class text.“

“

The fast pace of the lesson created by the 6-part structure. The whole class having access to the same text.“

“

What do Ofsted or other external reviewersthink about the approach?

Books have shown huge improvements and children's writing stamina has increased.

Key skills are being used in other areas of the curriculum, improving children's writing abilities.

Ofsted really liked the practice/deepen challenges.

HMI were pleased to see a consistent approach to teaching English across the school, one which

all children could talk about when questioned.

Ofsted were happy with children's progress and achievement in English.

Good feedback regarding consistency from our Review Day.

Stack audits and, lesson observations show significant improvement.

Enables the belief that all children can achieve.

Improved pace in lesson using the 6 part structure enabling all children to access the same learning.

Testimonials

Year 6 is part of the Mastery English project, in addition to this we have rolled the programme out to all year groups from Y1 upwards. We have found that it is working well across all year groups – staff are confident in

delivering the lessons and as reading is our school's priority this year, the lessons have lent themselves well to improving standards and raising attainment throughout the year (based on current SATs practice papers for KS1 and KS2).

I have been implementing the English Mastery approach in class since September and have seen great improvements in the children's engagement, enjoyment and progress across their reading and writing.

The use of a high quality children's book has created an engaging and relevant stimulus for our writing and provides a clear context for our skills based lessons. The children especially enjoy the reading comprehension and feature hunt lessons and I have found them invaluable in terms of assessing gaps in their reading and writing knowledge. The use of a model text not only provides a clear expectation of writing for the children's final piece at the end of the unit, but also provides support and scaffolding to my lower attainers who struggle when writing certain genres types. Having taught several units of work using the mastery approach, I have been able to ensure that key writing skills for Year 5 (such as using relative clauses and parenthesis) are embedded into the children's learning and are now becoming part of their daily writing toolkit. This is all thanks to the nature of the two weekly plans which allow for key skills to be taught multiple times but within different contexts and writing genres.

The mastery approach has also had a positive impact on my class's reading levels through the use of weekly comprehension lessons linked to the text. As a teacher, I have been able to adapt and formulate my own comprehension questions to specifically target areas of improvements in terms of comprehension and inference skills. My class greatly enjoy sharing and discussing the text together, and are then able to work at their own level on the comprehension questions set for them. The 'going deeper' challenge section ensures that my higher attainers regularly extend their learning through more challenging, thought-provoking questions.

I have also found that the planning and marking of English has become less time consuming as the two weekly units allow for a familiar structure and routine regarding planning. The marking stickers, with their practise and going deeper sections, have reduced marking time yet still ensure that all learners have the chance to either consolidate or extend their learning at the end of the lesson. My class particularly enjoy the extended writing session at the end of a two week unit, and find the marking sticker for this lesson to be particularly helpful in identifying what they need to do next to improve their work further.

1.

Emma RobertsExpert Teacher at St Joseph's in Dewsbury

2.

Vicky FoxExpert Teacher at Holy FamilyPrimary School in Doncaster

We were keen to be involved in the mastery English project for multiple reasons:Ÿ We had done a lot of work on a mastery approach to maths during the last academic year.

Ÿ We have worked with Andrew and his team for several years to raise expectations of staff.

Ÿ We were struggling to gain a consistent approach to English throughout school.

Ÿ We believe mastery is not just an approach to apply to an isolated subject but an ethos to school's whole curriculum. To us this is a belief that all children, apart from those with a cognitive block to learning, should master age related expectations but staff were struggling to see how this could be achieved in English.

Having been accepted on to the project we decided that the Y6 teacher would be the lead and roll it out to the whole school. For us this has worked extremely well because we have had regular Professional Development Meetings focused on English mastery to both cascade the learning from Learning Unlimited and review changes made.

The impact of being involved in the project:

· Children are fully engaged in their class novel (In a recent survey of whether children preferred the film or book version of their class novel only 2 out of 30 children preferred the film)

· Before we embarked on the project we found children were struggling to sustain reading for a length of time, flicked through books and kept flitting from one book to another. Now every child in KS2 brings in a novel from home and generally have to be encouraged to put their novel away at the end of reading time. This has been so successful Y2 are eager to do the same.

· Although staff were very concerned about the negative impact of not having guided reading lessons they now don't want to return to guided reading lessons as a way to teach reading. What we have seen is that by focusing for a couple of days every week on reading comprehension skills and reading the class novel daily that children have a far better understanding of what they are reading, why the author has chosen certain vocabulary / sentence structures and are more confident in a reading test situation.

· Children have a better understanding of language and actively seek out what words mean as well as using a broader range of vocabulary in their writing.

· Children are applying the grammar they have learnt to their writing and have a better grasp of grammar due to it being taught in context.

· It is difficult at this point in the year to say how involvement in the project has directly impacted on outcomes for pupils but formative assessment so far this year indicates an improvement will be seen in end of year summative assessments.

· We now have a consistent approach to the teaching of English.

· The project has helped staff to understand how to gain a mastery approach to the teaching of English, mainly due to the process of planning with the end in mind, e.g. planning the marking and feedback tasks (Practise & Deepen) before the lesson. This way of planning, teaching & marking is now used for all subjects.

· The most important outcome for us has been that teachers are now enjoying teaching English and, as a result, children are motivated, engaged and enjoy learning in English.

3.

Alex HealyHeadteacher at St Mary's Primary Schoolin Sheffield.

Launching Mastery English

Stage 1:Introducing and Aligning

Ÿ Face to face introduction for senior leaders and the champion teacher.Ÿ Mastery in the classroom sessions at St Thomas of Canterbury School in Sheffield to

see the programme in action. Ÿ Specific training for the champion teacher, who will lead Mastery English across school.

Stage 2: Launching

Ÿ Introductory training for teachers led by lead SLE. Ÿ Professional development sessions for teachers led by the champion teacher.Ÿ Access to planning materials and flipcharts. Ÿ Schools to purchase whole class texts (approval needed from lead SLE).

Stage 3:Monitoring and Support

Ÿ Development visit from lead SLE. Ÿ Joint monitoring.Ÿ Bespoke support to follow up on any issues.Ÿ Champion teacher network meetings. Ÿ Leadership event.

Stage 4: Embedding

Ÿ Development visit from lead SLE. Ÿ Joint monitoring.Ÿ Bespoke support to follow up on any issues.Ÿ Champion teacher network meetings. Ÿ Leadership reflection events.

Stage 5:Sustaining

Ÿ Champion teacher networks to be led by expert teachers from within the schools.Ÿ Access to central training for new staff.Ÿ Leadership events.Ÿ Development visits.

To find out more about our Mastery English Programme,please attend one of our introductory training daysprimarytsa.eventbrite.co.ukor email a.bray@lutsa.co.uk

LEARNING UNLIMITEDTEACHING SCHOOL ALLIANCE

Mastery

English

T: 0114 274 5745E: enquiries@lutsa.co.uk

@mastery_english

masteryenglish.co.uk