Barnstaple Schools Benefit from Maths and Reading Training for Teacher

Primary School teacher Maggie Keene from Sticklepath School and Judy Grimwood from Orchard Vale in Barnstaple are among twenty four dedicated teachers who have been presented with new qualifications to help children in Devon schools who have most difficulties with maths and reading.

Maggie Keene was one of twelve teachers who were presented with their accreditation for the Numbers Count programme and Judy Grimwood was one of twelve receiving Reading Recovery qualifications after intensive training programmes.

The presentations were made by Devon’s Director of Learning and Schools, Judith Johnson, at a special ceremony at the Tiverton Hotel.

She praised the teachers for their hard work and dedication through a very demanding year of training.

“These initiatives really make a difference and change children’s lives,” she said.

“They are time intensive and resource intensive but not as expensive as a child’s wasted life.”

There are already 18 Devon primary schools operating the Numbers Count programme, which is part of the national Every Child Counts initiative.

In the last two years, 256 Devon children have taken part in the scheme in Year 2 of primary school. They made an average of 14 months’ progress after just 20 hours of teaching – four times the normal rate of progress.

85 per cent of the Devon children went on to achieve nationally expected levels in maths in the tests for seven-year-olds. None of them were predicted to do so by their teachers before taking part in the programme.

Reading Recovery is part of the national Every Child a Reader programme which children take at the end of the first year of school. In addition to their normal classroom instruction, they also have daily individual teaching.

In Devon, 200 children were supported in 26 schools this year. In the 2010/11 academic year that will be closer to 300 children with another 14 schools joining the programme.

Evidence shows more than 90 per cent of children, who were unable to read even the simplest published books and able to write only a few letters or words, reach national expectations in around 20 weeks.