Stacey Primary School Case Study
September 11, 2024 | 3months | Case Studies
Key school information:
Stacey Primary School, located in the heart of Cardiff City in Wales, serves a diverse community and currently has 233 pupils.
The school is characterised by its multilingual environment. As of June 2024, within Stacey Primary 85% of learners are from the global majority, and 61% have English as an Additional Language (EAL). There are 41 different languages represented within the student body. This linguistic diversity reflects the school's inclusive ethos and its commitment to providing a supportive educational setting for all students, regardless of their linguistic background.
From reception to year 6, 43.9% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (eFSM).
A whole school approach with Giglets
Stacey Primary chose Giglets to boost reading skills and literacy standards school wide. Giglets supports Stacey Primary's commitment to fostering a lifelong love for reading and creating a strategic approach to literacy instruction. At Stacey Primary School, staff implement Giglets across all year groups, from nursery to Y6, and Giglets is used in a range of ways throughout the school. It is used for whole-class shared reading (WCSR) to introduce young learners to reading in an engaging group setting and promote fluency and oracy. During guided group reading (GGR), teachers use Giglets to tailor instruction and tasks to meet individual development needs. Further up the school, there is clear evidence of independence and embedded reading comprehension strategies.
Using the ABC alongside a Giglets text
Pupils working in pairs with Giglets
The Giglets Journey
At Stacey Primary School, the approach to enhancing literacy and reading skills is methodical and reflective, rooted in a cycle of continuous improvement and strategic action planning. The process begins with a thorough review of the progress report from the previous year, which sets the stage for establishing specific reading targets for the pupils.
A key criterion is that teachers consistently conduct daily focused GGR sessions, thereby prioritising reading instruction within the daily curriculum. Additionally, all teachers are expected to deliver discrete reading lessons that integrate higher order thinking skills (HOTS), with the goal of fostering deeper comprehension and enhancing critical thinking skills among students.
Year 2 children enjoying the theme music for a Giglets text
The Giglets Journey
During Stacey Primary School's 3-year journey, Giglets has been used strategically across different year groups to support literacy and reading skills, tailored to the developmental stage of each cohort.
In nursery, the focus is on phonemic awareness. Giglets is utilised to introduce sounds through fun activities like animal noises, and nursery rhymes which engage the youngest learners in the foundational aspects of reading, phonemic awareness and alphabetics.
By reception, the use of Giglets shifts towards the retrieval of phonics and identifying 'tricky' words. The use of the highlighting tool allows for quick formative assessment. Customisable features such as font type and background colour are used to support whole-class engagement, making the learning experience more accessible and tailored to the needs of all students.
Nursery children reading 'Pet Animals' on Giglets
Giglets is very engaging for ourearly years pupils as they enjoythe sensory elements and the widerange of stories available.
The Giglets platform can be used in a variety of coloured texts and backgrounds to support learners
In years 1 and 2, Giglets is implemented in guided group reading (GGR) sessions where children begin to develop their own reading response to texts. Learners develop retrieval skills by using the reading test questions (RTQs) to enhance understanding and these allow teachers to effectively monitor progress.
For students in years 3 and 4, theapproach matures further; learnersbegin using RTQs independently, andteachers incorporate tasks from theGiglets resources section along withhigher order thinking skills (HOTS)questions to foster discussion and deepercomprehension.
Giglets is a great reading tool for pupils in the upper year groups, it develops pupils understanding of comprehension strategies, offers a range of toolkit resources that build their reading skills and prepares pupils for the challenge of formative assessments.
Pupils working independently with Giglets
Finally, in years 5 and 6, children operate independently, utilising tasks such as the 'Question Generation Chart' and 'What's the Question?'; activities from the Giglets resources section. This promotes active monitoring and develops comprehension strategies, with a strong focus on collaborative learning and applying the activities to a range of real texts, preparing students for the secondary transition and future lifelong readership.
This progressive implementation of Giglets from nursery through year 6 at Stacey Primary showcases a comprehensive and evolving approach to literacy, emphasising the importance of adapting teaching methods to suit the developmental stages of students, while fostering an environment of inclusivity and active participation.
Giglets is a great resource to use with children of all ages from Nursery to Year 6. When implemented effectively it allows pupils to develop a range of pre-reading and reading skills as well as developing their comprehension and inference skills. The texts are accessible to all as pupils are able to access them in their own language in school and at home.
The largest impact of using Giglets over a number of years has been that pupils enjoy reading and listening to a range of texts in English and their first language. Their comprehension skills have improved as they are able to confidently answer Higher Order Thinking questions and can discuss fiction and non-fiction texts.
Impact
The implementation of Giglets at Stacey Primary School has markedly enhanced pupils' literacy capabilities, particularly in reading and oracy. Through Giglets, students have not only gained confidence in reading but have also developed proficiency in addressing a wide range of comprehension questions.
The use of Giglets has been instrumental in driving pupil engagement and nurturing a culture of reading within the school. The theme music and illustrations in Giglets stories deeply immerse students in their reading experiences, enhancing their engagement. These features have proven effective in developing students' prediction and inference skills, which are crucial for comprehension and analytical thinking.
Pupils working collaboratively with the Giglets Toolkit
Developing vocabulary using the 'ABC Grid'
Giglets has served as an invaluable resource for pupils who may lack access to physical books at home, ensuring that all children have the opportunity to explore a diverse range of literature. The platform's ability to provide stories in pupils' home languages is a notable aspect of its inclusivity, allowing multilingual students to engage meaningfully with the material.
Stacey Primary's strategic approach to the implementation of Giglets not only enhances pupils' literacy skills, but also fosters a culture of reading, laying the foundations for lifelong readership and a passion for storytelling.
Pupil Testimonials
Stacey Primary School pupils also gave us their feedback on using Giglets in their classroom.
Moving Forward
Stacey Primary School is taking its next step by adopting Giglets’ enhanced assessment and reporting tool. This tool is designed not only to monitor and track students' progress over time but also to swiftly conduct diagnostic evaluations, identifying student needs at class, group, and individual levels. The reporting feature in Giglets aids teachers in pinpointing specific question types that require further development, thereby ensuring that instruction is precisely tailored to meet the diverse needs of all students.
By utilising Giglets' analysis of pupils' performance, teachers can effectively target areas for improvement, resulting in a more personalised learning experience and the identification of support where needed.
Giglets reporting tool: pupils’ answers to reading test questions are quickly analysed
Giglets reporting tool: questions are broken down to highlight areas for support
Ongoing Support
Stacey Primary’s LLC lead emphasised the instrumental role of the Giglets Customer Success team in this journey. The team's prompt responses to enquiries, interactive workshop sessions, and valuable ongoing training for teachers and teaching assistants have been pivotal.
This collaborative approach, coupled with a willingness to incorporate feedback, underscores the school's dedication to continuous improvement in creating a strategic approach to literacy instruction that fosters a lifelong love for reading.
Giglets audio reads support multisensory learning
Pupils using the shared highlighting tool to note ‘tricky words’
Would you like to use Giglets in your school?
The Giglets library consists of over 1,900 texts across 40+ different languages with supporting resources including higher-order thinking skills questions, reading test questions and cross-curricular tasks. Giglets is ideal for inspiring a love of reading and motivating learners. Support pupils in developing those ever-important comprehension skills with our enhanced texts and accessible reader. To see how Giglets can enhance your literacy provision, request a demo today.
