Elmswell Primary School on Shine Interventions: GPS

The Deputy Head Teacher of Elmswell Primary School shared their recent experience with Shine Interventions: GPS

"Boost Insight’s Group Intervention Reports, based on our PiRA and PUMA assessment results, identified which children needed additional learning. We then chose four pupils from that data to take part in the interventions. The reports reflected my thoughts during the marking process and pinpointed the right students. We delivered Grammar, Punctation and Spelling across two learning sequences. 

The TA had everything needed to work through and discuss the model texts and work as a group to complete the questions. The resources were pitched at the right level and the pupils often achieved high marks during the model text questions. The supported independent practices were carried out the following day, which meant the TA could catch up with the children and go through the knowledge again rather than waiting a week between sessions. We ran the sessions twice a week after school, which meant we had greater access to smartboards and break-out spaces. The interactive nature of the resources, especially the modelling software really engaged the children. 

Due to my role, I don’t have a lot of time to deliver interventions, so it was great that the Teaching Assistant (TA) who delivered the interventions was able to do so with little input from myself. The ‘pick up and go’ nature of the interventions suit us as a school. The lesson plans save time and provide clear information and guidance on how to run the sessions. The teaching guidance means teaching assistants don’t require training sessions in order to deliver the resources. This is very useful as it saves both time and money, particularly when staff have left in the past and their replacements require costly re-training. 

As I am the year group teacher of the pupils selected to take part in the interventions, I have been able to see improvements in their learning more generally and we have continued using Shine GPS for another term as a result. It's great that it's linked to the assessments too so we can identify what skills our pupils struggled with and then tackle them specifically in the interventions."

With thanks to all staff at Elmswell Primary School for sharing their experience. Read more about their outcomes in our Shine GPS Impact Report.