Excellence in English: What we can learn from 12 outstanding schools said that where teaching is outstanding, boys did as well as girls in English, bucking national trends.
Chief inspector Christine Gilbert said, 'There are many routes to excellence. No two schools are the same and there is no simple formula that will make a school outstanding in its English provision. But the schools featured in this report are showing the way in difficult circumstances and their pupils make outstanding progress and achieve high standards. I hope they will inspire others.'
Jump Primary School in Barnsley, one of the case studies featured, gave examples of how to provide opportunities for literacy in the nursery class. The report said that the quality of English teaching is 'consistently high'. Its keys features are:
- - a strong, language-rich classroom environment where pupils are challenged to learn and apply new vocabulary
- - the integration of writing and speaking across all areas of the curriculum
- - very effective use of open-ended questions to promote dialogue and give pupils the confidence to contribute orally.
The report said play activities in the EYFS centred on the development of literacy and that literacy and oral work are built strongly into all activities to provide a language-rich environment.
The report said there was 'constant dialogue' in the nursery class. It gave the following example: 'Two boys were talking with the teacher. One started telling a story about finding a skeleton. The teacher modelled questions which were imitated by his friend: "Was it big? Was the head at the top?" The whole classroom had a persistent buzz as adults and children talked as they learned.'
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