Getting it Right in EYFS
The amazing EYFS teachers who joined the project, presenting their Ready Steady Write successes to each other and their headteachers.
Louise and Gareth (Literacy Counts Consultants) have thoroughly enjoyed a four day project with a number of schools from the South Liverpool Learning Network Collaborative & Liverpool Diocesan Schools Trust. The project began in September and has been focusing on 'Getting it Right in EYFS' for reading and writing. Read below to hear what some of these incredible EYFS teachers and leaders had to say about the project and the impact our resource, Ready Steady Write is having in their classroom.
Firstly, Gareth spoke to Josie, an EYFS Class Teacher at Saint Anthony’s of Padua Liverpool. We asked Josie about what it is that makes Ready Steady Write work for her children and what impact it has had.
“Ready Steady Write corresponds with and stimulates a child’s development in communication and language which then motivates them to become confident story tellers and eventually, imaginative and confident writers.
For me, the biggest impact has been to see the development of story telling and how a story is structured. Step by step, it shows the children what a sentence is. Through this, their imagination is stimulated to tell their own stories which they then want to get down on paper. They use the skills taught in these lessons to get their imagination down on paper and tell wonderful stories!”
Selma from Bank Road primary School in Garston, Liverpool talks about how Ready Steady Write has brought consistency and inclusivity to her classroom.
“So much about Ready Steady Write works for me, my children and Banks Road Primary School. We even use it in our nursery! The whole scheme is dedicated to positive outcomes for the children. It’s all about the children! The scheme so far has been so much fun to teach! It’s well-structured and there is clear progression in the work. I have been teaching it since September 2023, it’s only January 2024 now and I can already see so much improvement in the children’s confidence, new vocabulary and their enjoyment of literacy lessons. They know what to expect, there is a clear routine and structure to the lessons. Consistency is key and with a team of dedicated teachers and teaching assistants, a school can really bring Ready Steady Write to life.
For me, the biggest impact has been the inclusivity of the resource in the classroom. I have a varied classroom with lots of needs and abilities. Every child is unique and different and I think Literacy Counts’ Ready Steady Write really lends itself to an inclusive classroom. For example, being able to retell a story from beginning to end. In EYFS, there is music, lyrics and actions to each song and story which really lends itself to some of my children, for example EAL and reluctant speakers. If children aren’t yet confident or ready to speak and retell the story with their words, they can still use actions or move their bodies along to the music. I think that it is wonderful to show that inclusivity in the classroom. Thank you Literacy Counts for a wonderful scheme!”
Julie & Ashley are from Liscard Primary School, a 3 form entry school in the Wirral. Gareth asked what it is about Ready Steady Write that is working for them in EYFS.
“What works well for us is being able to apply some of the activities that you’ve given us and adapting them for our children’s needs. It’s very adaptable. If it doesn’t quite fully work for your school, there are elements that you can change.
The Story Songs are brilliant – the children really love them! They get them engaged with the story. They love learning them. The use of rhythm and repetition in them... it gets them used to that story language! You catch them singing them in the toilets! We’ve been able to use them to teach our music curriculum as well, with rhythm and timing. They’ve loved it!
We have used the Story Friends to help support our guided reading activities, so it’s helping a lot with children’s comprehension and understanding of story structure and they are bringing that into their writing as well.
Within our children, there is a keenness to write. Because we are showing them Sentence Accuracy every day, a lot of children who may have been reluctant to write are actually having a go. Because they are seeing it every day, children are supporting other children! They’ll say ‘Remember your capital letters, your Wise Owl checkers’ so they are reminding each other as well. They love the character of the Sentence Snake because they are following the direction of the snake, they know how to write in a straight line. In the past some children would write all over the page, but now we are seeing a clear coherence where they are writing in that straight line, following Wise Owl’s rules. They are just finding that they are having a go, they want to write!”
Sara from Stockton Wood Primary School is the EYFS Lead & Nursery Teacher. Gareth asked her about how she has adapted Ready Steady Write to work for her nursery children.
“We started using Ready Steady Write in September 2023. Our children come to us with very low S&L, so we recognised that we needed to put lots in place to support those children. We have taken the themes of Ready Steady Write and adapted it for oracy skills. We have taken the Story Friends, the retelling aspects and we use that daily in our nursey setting. Already we’re seeing the impact but our hope is that when the children join Reception Class in September, they will already have those basic skills and therefore, hit the ground running.
A really good example of a success story telling is when putting together my presentation for today, I didn’t have a video, I only had photographs from the Autumn term. So on Tuesday I whipped out everything from Autumn 1 and put it up on the board and said “children, let’s retell this story”. Instantly, off the cuff, they could retell that story. They remembered all of that language, the rhythm and the structure of the story. They remembered which part was the Octopus Opening and which part was the Problem Penguin. It was really wonderful to see.
The children really love it (Ready Steady Write). They really enjoy it. It is something that you can take and make so much bigger so it can feed into all aspects of your curriculum. You can put it into your provision, build your vocabulary around it and let them run with it! We are seeing the impact already. We use WellComm (S&L assessment) and in September (2023) 64% of our nursery children were below ARE. We’ve just reassessed them (January 2024) and now only 30% are below!
Do you want to find out more about Ready Steady Write?
https://www.literacycounts.co.uk/ready-steady-write
A big thank you to the schools who got involved:
Banks Road Primary
Bishop Martin C of E Primary
Christ the King Catholic Primary
Garston C of E Primary
Liverpool College
Our Lady’s Bishop Eton Catholic Primary
Springwood Heath Primary
St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School
St Gregory’s Catholic Primary
Stockton Wood Primary
Halewood C of E Primary
Huyton with Roby C of E Primary
St Andrew’s C of E Primary
St James’ C of E Primary
Liscard Primary
#ReadySteadyWrite #LiteracyCounts
