“With 6 years of Literacy Tree under my belt, I knew we’d see success, but the whole-school inset delivered by Lynn enabled us to launch this text-based approach in such a positive and intentional way”
Intent
Although some staff had prior experience of using Literacy Tree in London, Sunmarke’s journey began in August of 2023. As the international political climate has changed over the last few years, Sunmarke saw a rapid increase in ELL students, with many of these children joining from other international curricula. The Deputy Head recognised the need for a consistent English approach that would engage the new students yet still provide that rigour and challenge needed.
Implementation
Having spoken with Literacy Tree co-founder and co-CEO Lynn, Sunmarke collaborated on a long-term English plan that was appropriate for their context. Before the whole-school inset was delivered, a couple of year groups trialled some Literacy Tree texts and attended online training sessions. With 44 class teachers, these early pioneers were able to offer some insights of their own, allowing year group teams to begin adapting planning more confidently.
Impact
The impact on writing has been remarkable. Whilst Sunmarke hasn’t yet fully incorporated Literary Leaves, there has been a noticeable increase in reading attainment, evidenced in external NGRTs. Other Dubai schools have visited to see Literacy Tree in action, and external cross-school moderation has resulted in favourable outcomes for Year 2 and Year 6. Aside from data and outcomes, children have a passion for writing and reading that wasn’t there before. Offering a range of different text types has also exposed the students to unfamiliar authors, illustrators and cultures. Their journey has just started, and the plans for the future are ambitious!
“We were fortunate to have had Literacy Tree over in August to deliver training for our staff. Behind the scenes, we worked together to create a personalised curriculum map that was not only culturally sensitive to our context but that complimented our existing STEAM curriculum. What we now have in place is a robust, long-term plan featuring high-quality texts that help bring our STEAM projects linked to sustainability and technology to life.
The feedback we've had from teachers has been really positive. Engagement and writing stamina has already increased, and working walls are being utilised really effectively within lessons.
The benefit for us as an international school is that our teachers can attend online planning support sessions, subject leader meetings and keep up to date with the latest pedagogy and literature through the book lists and articles on the Literacy Tree website.
As we reach the end of our first year, the progress we’ve seen has been incredible. I’m already looking forward to seeing this continue into next year and beyond. The beauty of using a whole-school approach such as this is that you see a cumulative effect: children become familiar with the resources, confident with grammatical terminology and demonstrate an increased stamina for writing.”
Annie Griffith, Deputy Headteacher, Sunmarke School, June 2024
