Jumeirah English Speaking School
Case Study
Louisa McGauley, Senior Librarian, Jumeirah English Speaking School
Why did you choose to introduce First News Education into your school?
Our English Department were finding that when students started their GCSE course in Year 10, they were completely unprepared in understanding non-fiction texts. Prior to introducing First News Education, the focus in library lessons for KS2 and KS3 had been almost entirely on fiction. We completely altered our approach to library lessons in order to support the English department and adopted a new hybrid of First News activities and writing book reviews to target better comprehension and writing skills.
“For some students it’s the first time they’ve read a variety of news articles, so their understanding of the language and structure of non-fiction works has greatly improved and the accuracy rates of the comprehension activities has generally improved over the year. It has been a huge success!”
How do you use Engage Pro in your school?
We use Engage Pro from Year 3 to Year 9 during fortnightly library lessons. Students are free to choose which activities they would like to complete. From Year 7 up, students also use First News in their English classes when they have finished other work. We have inter-class competitions with rewards for the top class in each year group who scores the most points and prizes for the top three students in each class at the end of the academic year.
How have your pupils responded and what results have you seen?
All year groups have enjoyed using First News and most do not realise that they are learning literacy skills as they are reading articles that interest them, and the activities are fast and fun. Prior to using First News we struggled to engage Year 9 students in any reading competitions, but the majority of those students are now happy to work as a class team and complete the activities.
For some students it’s the first time they’ve read a variety of news articles, so their understanding of the language and structure of non-fiction works has greatly improved and the accuracy rates of the comprehension activities has generally improved over the year. It has been a huge success!
How did First News Education support your school during remote-teaching?
Our school was on 100% remote learning for 18 weeks during 2020 and even now we have a proportion of students who are learning remotely. Engage Pro has been invaluable during this time as students have been able to complete exactly the same tasks irrespective of if they are in class or at home.
What have you found to be the most valuable feature of Engage Pro?
The ease of marking student work and checking activity participation and accuracy from a teaching prospective as well as the ability to set different levels of work to aid differentiation within a class.
The support from the First News team has been incredible. Any queries or issues we have are responded to promptly – thank you!
“[Engage Pro] has been invaluable during this time as students have been able to complete exactly the same tasks irrespective of if they are in class or at home”
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