Scrutiny findings helping to improve literacy in Swansea

Yesterday Swansea Council Cabinet agreed the recommendations from the Children, Young People and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Board review of literacy across school in Swansea called ‘Building Blocks for Improvement Literacy in Swansea’.  Cabinet complimented the work of the Board saying it was an important and positive piece of work. 

The Board had concluded that literacy must be a priority across schools in Swansea, that helping children and families overcome the barriers to education was important, how poverty and deprivation have a clear impact on literacy levels and the importance of identify issues early.  Councillors also emphasise the need for all teachers in schools to be ‘teachers of literacy’.

The Board recommended that the cabinet member works with the local education authority, schools, governing bodies and local colleges to:

1. Develop a broader strategy for literacy that stretches from early years into adulthood. 
2. Improve the standards of literacy across schools by ensuring every teacher is a ‘teacher of literacy’.
3. Ensure the new literacy strategy focuses on specific underachievement and targets schools where weaker aspects of literacy are identified. 
4. Ensure that all schools are working towards effective shared targets for literacy improvement including looking to develop a model that introduces in the first instance a floor target for literacy in schools. 
5. Encourage schools to develop partnerships with parents, carers and families by providing information about how they can help to develop their child’s literacy skills. 
6. Encourage schools to provide family learning environments for families to develop together using the Family Learning Programmes.
7. Ensure good practice and the expertise of experienced teaching staff is used to improve standards in all schools across Swansea.
8.  Encourage school governing bodies to ensure that all governors in schools are clear of their role and responsibilities for each child in a school in terms of raising standards. 
9. Encourage co-operation in relation to the release and use of ‘system leaders’ by schools and their governing bodies across schools in Swansea. 
10. Encourage the Welsh Assembly Government to demonstrate that literacy is a priority across Wales by making sustainable long term funding available for local authorities and schools to specifically improve reading, writing and oracy skills across Wales. 

The Cabinet member will now put together an action plan giving details of how the authority will address the recommendations made which will be discussed by the Board in July/August 2011.