Special Groups

Special Programmes in 2024

There are a large number of Special Group and Support Programmes which run across the school to ensure that the huge and varied needs are our tamariki and catered for. 

Junior Programmes 

Reception Class and Child Support Workers

Early Intervention/ Words Can POP  - 9 students

Sunshine Decodeables Reading - Yr 2 & 4   8 students 

Quick 60/BSLA Tier 2 Yr 3 & 4  - (Reported on separately)    21 students

Reading Recovery Yr 2 - (Reported on separately)   5 students 

Early Literacy Support (ELS)  8 students

Senior Programmes 

Senior Reading Groups - 3 groups of Year 7 and 8's taken by Jenni Clarke 

Reading Support Years 5/6   (Reported on separately) 

Agility with Sounds - Support Workers  16 students

Online Programmes/Applications 

Reading Eggs  

STEPS Programme (online)  30 students  monitored by Support Staff

Literacy Planet - Yr 7 & 8s

Other

Child Support in the classroom

3 ORS Children who receive daily 1-1 support

In 2024  we  have continued  to once again be very deliberate in terms of ensuring that we have appropriate targeted  intervention and support throughout the school. 

There have been a small number of very high needs children that have needed a high level of support and care. This saw the development of a Learning Support Space where these children can be catered for in an appropriate setting with developmentally appropriate resources. 

Reception Class

It was wonderful to continue to have the the Reception Space set up in Rooms 24 - 27. This is a lovely arrival space for our newest learners and we have been able to resource this space so that it can grow as a play based transition to school Programme. We have continued to have this space supported with 1 Support Workers on most days.

Elaine Forbes has continued to  deliver the Words Can POP Programme  (Words - Vocabulary Development  Can - Conversations  P - Phonological Awareness  O - Oral Narrative   P - Print Awareness)  with some of the learners to support them to become ready to begin the BSLA Literacy Programme. 

The BSLA Programme has continued to be the basis of the Literacy Programme in this class and we have had a number of Whanau Hui to grow and share this programme so that Whanau are able to support it at home.

2023 Year 7 & 8  Reading Groups (Mrs Clarke)

Over the course of 2023, 20 students participated in this programme.

I started midway through Term 1 with 3 groups of students who were reading at 8 - 8.5 years. 

From past experience, these groups work best gendered. The girls group met with me 4 times weekly, while the 2 boys groups met with me 3 times weekly for 30 minutes each time. The technology timetable meant that groups in the middle block needed to be split by year level.

As this was an intervention, these students also participated in literacy lessons with their literacy teacher, and sometimes they came to my lessons during their maths rotation. The mid-year reading testing revealed that two students had made significant progress so they moved on from my programme and were replaced by 2 students who were reading at 8 - 8.5 years. One of these students was only on the programme for a few weeks due to their disruptive behaviour. 

My focus this year has been to use mainly non-fiction texts to develop vocabulary knowledge and comprehension strategies, as weaknesses in these areas were previously identified as barriers to progress. 

As can be seen from the graph below, the end of year testing revealed that while 2 students made no measurable progress during the year, all other students did make gains, including one who made 4 years progress since being tested at the end of 2022. One student was was not tested at the end of the year, as he didn’t attend school for most of Term 4. Poor school attendance has continued to be an issue, as have

missed sessions due to sporting or other commitments; and the all-to-common “I forgot”.

As in previous years a  variety of Interventions and small group programmes are  in place to support these children depending on their various needs.  Some of the funded ESOL students are included in both our  'Quick 60'  and 'Agility with Sounds groups'. Other interventions such as  the Senior Literacy Group, Reading Support, and one on one support from our Child Support Workers are used to support these students. The 'STEPs Web' online Programme has also been used as a structured literacy programme to support some of these children.  

We have a new challenge in terms of providing support for our BSLA 'Tier 2' children as Reading Recovery comes to an end and we transition into using the BSLA Tier 2 Programme in place of Quick 60.

Toni Nua

December 2024