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1.18 Sikeside Primary School, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire

Collaborative Practice
Sikeside Primary School

BACKGROUND - Conor is 9 yrs of age, currently in a composite class: P3/4. He has already been expelled from the first Primary School he (and his older brother) attended for 'inappropriate behaviour'. He has a difficult home-life and attendance to school is poor.

ASSESSMENT - At 8 yrs of age, Conor had a reading age of below 6 yrs (Reading Assessment will not record an age-related age lower than this). Additionally, he did not possess many of the required pre-reading skills and in particular had a very limited expressive and social vocabulary. After many assessments, most of which employed the formative approach, Michael had an Individualised Educational Programme of Work devised by myself and the class teacher. However, I quickly realised that the IEP alone would not ensure that the adaptations and modifications made to the Curriculum would ensure the access and thus success that Conor deserved. So, I established a programme of work for staff to ensure that on a daily basis Conor received specific, individual tuition. At this point I must mention that although the Social Context of Learning (Vygotski, 1978) is of paramount importance, Conor was so far behind his peers that in reality, he would have been working alongside pupils in PI. This was tried and did not work for a variety of reasons, mostly his self-esteem was punished although he enjoyed the sessions.

STAFF PROGRAMME - In establishing the timetable I had to firstly look at the needs of the pupil and then at staffing levels and thus expertise within the school. In summary, I was able to ensure that the Early Intervention Nursery Nurse worked with Conor 2 days one week and 3 days the next (following her hours), the Classroom Assistant 3 days a week and the class teacher following the Programme 1 day per week. I work with Conor 1 day a week (45 min session) but as I am also in School for BID work (Curriculum development) I monitor and evaluate the programme and liaise and meet with staff each Friday. I have also managed to meet with Mum on two occasions to discuss the programme. I feel strongly that this approach is most certainly the way forward for supporting pupils with such severe difficulties. The programme has now been running for 6 weeks and is proving to be a great success. Part of the success has been that all staff involved feel a certain autonomy over the programme as they helped plan it. This is an unusual step, especially for a Classroom Assistant. I also invited the Classroom Assistant and Nursery Nurse to observe my work with Conor and worked closely with them over several sessions to ensure staff were comfortable and indeed confident in their own abilities.