St John's Primary

To engage boys in writing and develop independent writing skills through play pedagogy

Rationale and Aim

Previous GL and SNSA data has shown that there is a dip in attainment and engagement in boys’ writing at early level. Staff identified a group of boys in the current P1/2 class who were reluctant to write and so decided to focus on how the implementation of play pedagogy could help support and engage these boys with their writing.

Intended impact

Although the case study was created to target a group of boys in the class, the intended impact of higher engagement and independence with writing will benefit all learners in the class. The targeted boys will also have increased confidence when producing pieces of writing.

Measurement

To begin the study, class teachers and the EYP audited the continuous provision on offer with a writing focus. This was recorded using the NAC establishing enabling environments audit tool. In order to measure engagement, the Leuven scale was carried out at the start and end of the study.

Independence and confidence were measured through high quality observations within the provision over the course of the programme. To strengthen these observations, staff gathered pupil voice through comments either informally during play or more formally during AiFL approaches and target setting tasks.

School Context

St John’s is a small primary school. All classrooms based around a central open area with a mix of open and closed rooms. The P1/2 classroom bay is open and faces the central area which has been developed by P1 staff and learners. The school has an attached Early Years Class with a developed space for all weather outdoor play. There is a Community Learning & Development base staffed by health and educational professionals within the school campus. This base has its own access at the side of the building. Staff based there contribute to and enhance the school’s health, personal and social education programmes. The school have started to implement play pedagogy across the P1/2 class this year and have joined the NAC Play Pedagogy in P1 programme. Through this programme the school have secured an Early Years Practitioner to support the development within the school.

September - December 2022

Staff enriched the current block play area following the environment audit with more recording and mark making opportunities. As this is the area that most boys are currently interested in staff felt this would be the best place to begin. As well as developing the physical environment, staff continued to develop their own pedagogical knowledge by reading Alastair Bryce Clegg, “Getting Ready to Write” which helped to develop the ethos towards writing in the class.

January - March 2023

Following the introduction of the mark making opportunities staff observed that pupils began to use these resources more and then encouraged pupils to try and design their ideas on planning sheets prior to constructing with the blocks. Pupils really enjoyed using the planning sheets and created more complex drawings over the course of the case study. To encourage more engagement in this area, real signs and materials were added as an enhancement. Staff observed that these enhancements increased engagement and encouraged more elaborate role play in the area. This provocation supported the development of narrative as well as mark making. Following the introduction of the enhancements, pupils extended their own learning by creating their own versions of construction signs for the area.

In order to extend the interest in role play from the block area, a deconstructed role play space was created. Pupils were engaged in collaborative role play which supported the development of story-telling skills. To support the development needs of the pupils in the class, staff added further opportunities for gross and fine motor skills e.g. tweezers and sand pouring resources and the use of larger writing areas. Staff have been able to show progression of these skills by increasing the complexity of the fine motor experiences on offer.

The physical environment has been developed over the course of the case study to embed literacy across the space. Despite increased engagement and success in the block play area, pupils were still reluctant to use the writing area. To help pupils to use this space alternative surfaces for writing were trialled. The writing table was exchanged for a cable drum and vertical surfaces and flip chart were added to the provision. The improvement in engagement in the area by the target children and others in the class was huge. As well as writing materials, stimulus for writing was considered. Photographs have been very popular in offering a relevant stimulus for pupils to want to write. The pupils are able to discuss the photographs and through this discussion, add their own pupil voice to the space by annotating with their own words.

March - June 2024

Alongside the experiences and opportunities for writing through the continuous provision, staff continue to teach writing formally once per week. The progress that pupils have made over the study can be seen in the written evidence but also their attitude during this lesson. Pupils are excited and happy to take part in this lesson and can’t wait to write. They have become more confident and independent. One particular success from this case study is the engagement and attitude of a pupil who refused to write at the start of the year. Writing was a source of anxiety for this child. Since the changes have been made to the environment this pupil has started to write using the different contexts such as the large paper.

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