The Recount Writing Programme KEY STAGE 1 The Impact Recount Writing programme is usually a 5-week programme. It begins with a workshop for parents and children together in week 1. Prior to the workshop, the class teacher should have carried out a cold recount writing assessment as a baseline for the programme. In the workshop, the parents are shown how to use the resources that pupils are using in their literacy lessons in school. This might mean that parents are given a demonstration of the use of a recount writing frame as well as word banks and support materials for punctuation etc. The workshop will usually take the following format:

The workshop leader talks to the parents solely for about 10 minutes at the start and explains why we have asked parents to come – they are first and foremost educators (Charles Desforges research).

The children arrive and begin to talk about a recent event that they are going to write the recount about. They do not write anything down at this stage, but the parents should use the laminated clown sheet to prompt the five ‘w’s: Who was there? Where were you? When did it happen? What were you doing? Why were you there? How did you feel?

Once this is completed, the pupils can use the paper sheet and pencil to write short sentences from their plan. We are still not too concerned about spelling at this stage. There is an option for reception-aged children to write only 3 sentences (sheet on CD Rom)

When the sentences are complete, the parents are shown the high frequency word list and told that these are the words we want the pupils to spell confidently. They should concentrate on only correcting spellings if they are on this list.

The parents should read through the sentences and pick up any spelling errors that are on the high frequency list – for example, pupils often write ‘wet’ instead of ‘went.’ Pupils should be shown the correct spelling and should correct their own work. If the words that are mis-spelt are not on the high frequency list, they should not be corrected

The parents can be shown how to improve the work through the powerpoint slides on openers and punctuation and can be introduced to the Ros Wilson pyramids where appropriate.

The parents should be shown the final slides, which are examples of reception pupil’s work from week 1 to week 5. The presenter should explain that this accelerated progress can only take place when the school and the parents work together and keep up the homework programme. It is also worth mentioning that on average, 60% of the pupils make progress at this rate if the parents continue to engage with the programme for the whole 5 weeks.

At the end of the session the parents take the pack home and the school sets weekly homework with a new recount title and the parents go through the same process each week for five or six weeks. The parents keep the pack at home and just return the sentences either on the write-up sheet given out, or in a homework book as a paragraph or list of sentences.

At the end of the programme, a second recount assessment should be carried out and compared with the first. Schools who do this systematically have found that Impact has had remarkable results in terms of standards benefits.

It is important for the class teacher to keep up the homework programme and ensure each child is issued regular homework at an appropriate level. For recount writing, it is important to collect the completed diary in each week and set a new recount title for the following week. Some schools prefer to do the final write up in school themselves, others like the parents to complete the work at home and send in the finished story/diary. You will need to decide what works best for your school and pupils. It is important to assess the children in the chosen subject prior to the session and then again at the end. A comparison of these results can be made to see if children have acquired skills and knowledge as a result of parental input.

A new title should be written on a write up sheet and sent home as homework each week. Sample titles are available in your manual and on the CD ROM that accompanies the pack.

The Recount Writing Programme KEY STAGE 2 The Impact Recount Writing programme is usually a 5-week programme. It begins with a workshop for parents and children together in week 1. Prior to the workshop, the class teacher should have carried out a cold recount writing assessment as a baseline for the programme. In the workshop, the parents are shown how to use the resources that pupils are using in their literacy lessons in school. This might mean that parents are given a demonstration of the use of a recount writing frame as well as word banks and support materials for punctuation etc. The workshop will usually take the following format:

The workshop leader talks to the parents solely for about 10 minutes at the start and explains why we have asked parents to come – they are first and foremost educators (Charles Desforges research).

The children arrive and begin to talk about a recent event that they are going to write the recount about. They do not write anything down at this stage, but the parents should use the laminated journalist sheet to prompt the five ‘w’s: Who was there? Where were you? When did it happen? What were you doing? Why were you there? How did you feel?

Literacy - Recount Writing

Once this is completed, the pupils can use the paper sheet and pencil to write short sentences from their plan. We are still not too concerned about spelling at this stage.

Once the pupils have got a sentence for every one of the recount ‘w’ words, the workshop leader should tell the parents that, if they were to write this up as a paragraph, it would make a pretty good recount. But we want to make it much better, by considering two things: the openers and the punctuation. It is important to ‘uplevel’ the piece of writing in the ‘what we did’ section.

Ask the parents to flip the sheet over to reveal the ‘what’ section on the back. Look at what you did in the recount and then use the openers to add much more detail. For example, if the child wrote, ‘I went to the cinema’ in the ‘what’ section, on the back page, they could write, ‘At first, I got up and had my breakfast. After that, I had a shower and got dressed. Soon we got in the car and drove to the cinema. When we arrived, we…..’ and so on.

When the sentences are complete, the parents are shown the high frequency word list and told that these are the words we want the pupils to spell confidently. They should concentrate on only correcting spellings if they are on this list. Should the pupils be capable of spelling all these words, the school might want to add the medium frequency word list instead, which can be found on the CD Rom.

The parents should read through the sentences and pick up any spelling errors that are on the high (or medium) frequency list – for example, younger pupils often write ‘wet’ instead of ‘went.’ Pupils should be shown the correct spelling and should correct their own work. If the words that are mis-spelt are not on the high (or medium) frequency list, they should not be corrected, unless they are commonly used by that child.

The parents can be shown how to improve the work through the powerpoint slides on openers and punctuation and can be introduced to the Ros Wilson pyramids where appropriate.

The parents should be shown the final slides, which are examples of reception pupil’s work from week 1 to week 5. The presenter should explain that this accelerated progress can only take place when the school and the parents work together and keep up the homework programme. It is also worth mentioning that on average, 60% of the pupils make progress at this rate if the parents continue to engage with the programme for the whole 5 weeks.

At the end of the session the parents take the pack home and the school sets weekly homework with a new recount title each week. The parents go through the same process each week for five or six weeks. The parents keep the pack at home and just return the sentences either on the write-up sheet given out, or in a homework book as a paragraph or list of sentences. Remember to copy both sides of the sheet for key stage 2 pupils, to include the sentence opener reminders.

At the end of the programme, a second recount assessment should be carried out and compared with the first. Schools who do this systematically have found that Impact has had remarkable results in terms of standards benefits.

It is important for the class teacher to keep up the homework programme and ensure each child is issued regular homework at an appropriate level. For recount writing, it is important to collect the completed diary in each week and set a new recount title for the following week. Some schools prefer to do the final write up in school themselves, others like the parents to complete the work at home and send in the finished story/diary. You will need to decide what works best for your school and pupils. It is important to assess the children in the chosen subject prior to the session and then again at the end. A comparison of these results can be made to see if children have acquired skills and knowledge as a result of parental input.

A new title should be written on a write up sheet and sent home as homework each week. Sample titles are available in your manual and on the CD ROM that accompanies the pack.

The Process

1. Carry out an assessment in recount writing – you may want to use the APP tracker to assess the pupils in this. This means that the pupils should write a recount using the tools usually available to them in class when doing writing.

2. Write to invite the parents to the workshop. 3. Prepare packs within school using the resources on the CD ROM. Order the necessary equipment. Use the model pack as a reference. 4. Chase parent replies – reminder letter, phone calls or text messages/emails. Don’t take ‘no’ for an answer – it doesn’t have to be mum or dad, it could be a cousin, family friend or a grandparent. The average turn-out to Impact workshops is 91%. 4. Present the workshop.

Have the packs ready well in advance to avoid a panic on the day. Have the first week’s homework ready in the pack and the parents/carers can take it with them at the end of the session. Ask the parents to complete an evaluation of how they think the session went (these are provided in the manual). The comments they make can be verygood for your data collection and also give ideas for future Impact sessions. Complete the Parent Data Collection Sheet for all those who attended.

6. Continue to monitor homework for recount writing and to send a new homework title each week. 7. Assess the children again and compare with the first week’s assessment. Pool the data to see how well the families have done. Some schools invite parents back at this stage and share success and verbal stories with them (e.g. children saying publicly how nice it was to have more support with writing at home etc). 8. Send a copy of your Parent Data Collection Sheet (A blank copy of this is in your manual), along with any other results and data you may have, to:

Roy Broadfield Primary National Consultant

Impact in Learning 10 Hillfield Road,

Solihull, West Midlands.

B91 3JE roy@impactinlearning.co.uk

Sample Letter to Parents

Dear Parent/carer, We are intending to run a series of workshops which encourage parents to come into school and work with their child on a one-to-one basis. The workshops will be a fun and enjoyable way of allowing parents to find out exactly how their child is learning in class and to take part in a simple literacy or maths activity. We will be making resources in the workshop for you to take home and keep for use in supporting your child with their homework. The workshop will be very informal and parents will not need any particular skill, as the activities will be set out and explained by the class teacher. Every child will need an adult to support them in their work and this could be a parent/ grandparent/ uncle/ aunt/ older brother or sister/ or family friend who knows the child well. The workshop for Mr Broadfield’s Reception Class will take place on Thursday 3rd October. It will be for approximately one hour from 9.15 - 10.15. Refreshments and a crèche will be available for the use of those parents/carers attending. It is essential that an adult is available for every child in Reception 1 on Thursday 3rd October until 10.15. I hope you will support this exciting event by attending with your child and would be grateful if you could indicate your intention by completing the tear-off strip below and returning it to school no later than Friday 28th September. Thank you for your continued support, Class Teacher.

………………………………………………………………………. I hereby give my consent for my child______________________________(child’s name) to attend the Impact Workshop on Thursday October 3rd. ____________________________________________(adults name) will be attending the workshop to help with my child’s work. Signed________________________________(parent/carer)_____________________(Date) Please complete and return by Friday 28th September.

Please note that children are unable to attend the workshop without a supporting adul

Preparing for your first Impact workshop with parents.

In preparation for your first workshop, you will need to consider these things;

Are our parents likely to need a crèche for younger children? If so, where and who will run it?

(past experience has proven that having younger children in the workshop is an option we need to avoid if at all possible).

Are we intending to offer parents refreshments at the end? If so, who will make and serve them?

The workshop presenter will need access to projected powerpoint throughout the workshop – where is the most appropriate place to hold the workshop with this in mind?

The workshop presenter talks to the parents only for about 15 minutes at the start. What will happen to the children during this time? Who will bring them to join the parents at the appropriate time?

Make sure that the ‘tool kits’ for parents are prepared well in advance in order to avoid disappointment or rushing at the last minute.

Any other questions? Call or email the Impact consultants at; info@impactinlearning.co.uk 0121 709 0924

I enjoyed having the opportunity to come into school to work with my child today.

I think the resource pack will be useful for my child’s homework.

I now feel more confident about helping my child with writing at home.

Parent/carers’ Evaluation Sheet.

We are happy and grateful that you came into school to work with your child today. Please spend a few moments to tell us what you thought of the workshop.

Please tick one box in response to the questions.

Yes

Not Sure No

Something I learned today was…..

In future, I would like to come to a workshop about…

I enjoyed having an adult from home in school today.

I think the resources are fun.

I will ask an adult to help me with my writing at home.

Children’s Evaluation Sheet.

Please tick one box to show how you feel;

Yes

Not Sure No

I liked the workshop today because……

In future, I would like to have a workshop about…..

School Co-ordinator – Please ensure you send a copy of each completed Parent Data Collection Sheet to Impact in Learning at: roy@impactinlearning.co.uk

* Please state

Number in Class

(Possible attendees)

Number of adults who attended

Number of males

Number of

Females

Number of non-parents (i.e grandparent/

Carer/ older sibling?)

Ethnic background (Children)

Number

Albanian

Black Caribbean

Black African

Black Other

Bangladeshi

Chinese

Indian

Pakistani

Asian (Other)

Turkish

Mixed Race

White British

Other*

Other*

Number of pupils with

Free school meals

Number of pupils with

E.A.L

Number of pupils with

I.E.P

Parent/Carer Data Collection Sheet

The class teacher should complete this sheet for every Impact workshop you hold. The sheets must be handed back to your Impact School Co-ordinator once completed.

School/Setting: Year Group:

Workshop subject: Date: