Michael Rennie, Director of Education, Central Academies Trust. September 2021.

Interested?
Welcome to Lordswood Boys’ School: Our journey.

As a member of Central Academies Trust, we have experienced one of the most dramatic and rapid
school improvements ever recorded in the UK education system. From P8 of -0.50 in 2017 we are
estimating ourselves this year to be around the +1.0 mark. The last ‘recognised’ P8 score was +0.69
in 2019. Clearly, things have changed for us all. In real money, what else has happened? English has
gone from 10% at the basic pass level to 92%, Maths from 45% to also 92%, with a remarkable 79%
passing at Level 5 or above. In 2017, the Year 11 cohort unperformed against targets by more than
1,000 grades at an average of 11 grades under target per student, on average. Grades have been
surpassed by at least 6 per student in the last 3 years, an overall improvement, or swing, of +17
grades…per student. This is what we call SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT.

There are many factors that have contributed to this fabulous success, none more than the relentless
pursuit of our LITERACY STRATEGY. Not just a token gesture, a passing reference to the importance of,
say, reading, not a nod to the importance of reading ability, no, an absolute steadfast belief that
LITERACY is, actually, EVERYTHING. Then a relentless pursuit of key milestone targets through a
genuinely collective whole-school effort, focus and drive. LITERACY has changed the face of our
school and it is our future. So, what evidence can we show you?

In September 2017 in the dim light of the exams outcomes, CAT commissioned a survey of reading
ages across the entire school. What we found was shocking:

2017 Literacy Audit

Year Group Reading age lag v chronological age
(Literacy Gap)
7 -29.0
8 -43.0
9 -47.0
10 -58.0
Average -44.3

The new Year 7s were operating at some 29 months behind their chronological age, a LITERACY GAP
that then appeared to widen as students spent more time in the school…indeed, by Year 10 this gap
had become a totally unacceptable and seriously dangerous 58 months. In short, after four years at
the school, students were, on average, almost 5 years behind chronological age. Can you imagine the
impact this would have on their performance in the exams in Year 11? Think about it, to access the
GCSE History curriculum, a reading age of 15+ is needed. Little wonder then that 0% of history
candidates passed that subject in 2017. OK, so almost 4 years on the back of our relentless LITERACY
DRIVE, how wide is the gap? We track reading ages at four way points, per year. We use a team of

Michael Rennie, Director of Education, Central Academies Trust. September 2021.

four dedicated Literacy Managers to manage the workload. These important colleagues perform a
range of tasks to deliver our Literacy strategy. The latest data for June 2021 is:

September 2021 Literacy Tracker

Year Group Reading age lag v 17-21 Net Gains
chronological age (% improvement in
(Literacy Gap): September Literacy per cohort)
2021
7 -6.0 +79.5
8 -5.7 +86.6
9 -3.4 +92.7
10 -7.5 +87.0
Average -5.7 +86.5

Where the average gap across the school in 2017 was almost 4 years (-44.3 months), it is now
massively reduced to -5.7, as of September 2021. This means we have effectively reduced the
LITERACY GAP by 86.5% and, at the current trajectory, by the time Year 10 sit their GCSEs in 2022,
the average deficit in that cohort will be more or less ZERO. Worth thinking about?

EAL and SEN

We do not include EAL students in the data but SEN students are measured in the same way. That
said, the EAL students have the exact same experience in terms of our day-to-day Literacy delivery,
albeit with some additional intervention from the Literacy Managers.

How can we support your school?

The Central Academies Trust and Lordswood Boys’ School are offering a year-long course for any
school in the UK. Spread over the first five half-terms of the academic year, our Literacy Lead and
Vice Principal, Raj Kang will work with delegates in support of their own Literacy strategy. Raj will
share every aspect of what we have done and what we continue to do in developing a deeper
understanding of how to embed the amazing progress we have made. Support could extend to
school visits to LBS, Raj visiting you, wider online consultation or even telephone support. Raj will
share our extensive range of experiences and resources:

● Year 7 Foundation Studies curriculum materials.

● Spelling, punctuation and grammar test materials.
● Tracking mechanisms, capturing accurate data and data analytics.
● Strategy planning and day-to-day delivery and management.
● Engineering whole-school engagement and impact.
● Staffing and wraparound support planning.

Michael Rennie, Director of Education, Central Academies Trust. September 2021.

 ● The Library and how to maximise impact.

Raj Kang had been delivering Literacy courses for the past three years and has
worked with many groups of up to 30 delegates and has both visited schools
the length and breadth of the country as well as welcoming guests to LBS to
see for themselves the full immersion Literacy saturation. Courses are always
fully booked in advance, so we would advise getting in early as they will sell
out quickly. There are limited places for 2021-2022.
Course details and costs

To register an interest and to begin the process of joining, click the link:

literacygenius@lordswoodboys.co.uk

Michael Rennie, Director of Education, Central Academies Trust. September 2021.

Michael Rennie, Director of Education, Central Academies Trust. September 2021.