Ridings School, Halifax

The Ridings School is an 11 to 18 comprehensive, which opened in January 1995 following the amalgamation of two local secondary schools.
There are approximately 576 pupils on roll.
There are 37 full time teaching staff plus 11 support assistants.
The school has four form entry at present.
There are over 260 pupils on the special needs register.

Intake is primarily from a number of large council estates on the northern side of Halifax.
44% of the pupils are on free school meals.
Pupils on entry to the school are below average reading age.
There is competition from a number of other large, local comprehensive schools.

We are committed to working together to promote success for the whole school community. We are committed to providing high quality comprehensive education. We believe that all individuals:

• are of equal value,
• have a valuable contribution to make to the life of the school,
• are responsible for their own actions, and the well-being of others,
• have the right to be enabled to achieve their full potential.

60 PC's are spread over 3 rooms:-
20 are located in R18 and used specifically for the Global software. A further 17 machines are located in R20 and used for I.T. and/or Global.
The remaining 23 machines are located in R21 and are used specifically for Information Technology.
All these machines are on Windows NT.
There is one server at present for this network although we hope to increase this to 2 in the very near future.
There are also a number of Archimedes machines located in various classrooms around the school.
In addition there is a number of open access PC's in the school library.

Date: February 1997.
Software purchased: Global English, Maths and French.

To raise literacy and numeracy standards.
To raise motivation levels.
To vary the approach to learning within subject area.
To offer a way of getting help/correction without the emotional content.
To offer all pupils a way of experiencing success.

In R18, which is used primarily for OILS the benching was purposely installed to allow, the machines to be positioned round the outsides. In the centre of the room is a fixed work area with chairs around allowing separate teaching and learning activities to take place. There is also a similar layout in R21, the other OILS room.
The remaining room has machines round the outside and on the central island leaving no specific area for alternative work to be done.

Every pupil in Years 7, 8 and 9 has one timetables I.L. lesson per week taken, in the main, by the OILS Co-ordinator. During this time the pupils are working mainly with the Global English.
In addition to this all these pupils have one of their timetabled Maths and English lessons in the OILS area taken by their subject teacher. These is also one Year 9 group, which uses the Global French. During these times the work, which the pupils undertake, is up to the individual teacher.

The use of the Global French is directly linked by the member of staff concerned to the work undertaken in the normal classroom environment.
The linking of the Global Maths to the SMP package is most useful to both staff and pupils. Although this does not exist with the English the English staff are using the software to build up and reinforce basic skills.

There are now a number of small learning support groups who work in the OILS area under the supervision of the OILS Co-ordinator and/or the Systems Manager depending on availability. These groups are very much special needs pupils. They use the Maths and English software for the purpose of improving basic skills.

In Years 10 and 11 the use of OILS is slightly different. The top sets in these years use the Global French for one lesson each per week. The use of OILS by other KS4 pupils is mainly in the area of Learning Support.

The rooms are also available for use at lunchtimes and after school.

Between the two OILS rooms there are 60 'lesson spaces' available. 14 of these are definite timetabled lessons for Year 7, 8 and 9 I.L. The remaining lessons are available to departments for their use. It is the responsibility of the OILS Co-ordinator to liase with teaching staff with regard to use of these rooms. We are now in the position where the OILS rooms are used for a total of 57 out of the 60 lessons every week with pupils working totally on the Global software.

Number of lessons per week. Length of lesson = 50 mins
	IL	English	Maths	French	Learning Support
All Yr 7 Pupils	1	1	1
All Yr 8 Pupils	1	1	1
All Yr 9 Pupils	1	1	1	1 (top set only)
Top set Yr 10				1
Top set Yr 11				1
Lower sets Yr 11	1			3
Small groups of SEN Pupils Yr 7 & Yr8					6 (extra lessons)

The target group were all pupils in Key Stage 3 who worked on OILS. During this time these groups were the lower 2 sets in each year group.
Testing was carried out (using NFER Reading Tests) on all Key Stage 3 pupils. The first testing was carried out just prior to the installation of OILS. All of these pupils were tested again four months later using the same test. The results below are only for those pupils who had used the Global English between the two tests.

Year 7 showed reading gains ranged up to 36 months.
Year 8 showed reading gains ranged up to 21 months.
Year 9 showed reading gains ranged up to 6 months.

Start age group (year)	Yr 7	Yr 8	Yr 9
Average reading age rise (months)	7.2	7.7	0.7

Overall average reading age rise KS3 = 6.4 months

Value Added

Motivation has been an important factor. Pupils behaviour has improved, concentration levels and time on task have shown marked increases. It also has to be said that pupil attendance improved on the days they have OILS.

The vast majority of pupils have a very positive attitude towards OILS. One pupil spoke out for them all when doing an interview with Radio Leeds. He was asked what he though of working on the Global software. His reply was "it's absolutely brill".

At the outset a number of staff were sceptical. After using the software they are surprised, and delighted, with the learning gains, how much more motivated the pupils are and the increase in pupils' self esteem.

» Case Studies Home