How Does Toe By Toe Work?
Watch below as Frank takes us through the core principals of the Toe By Toe method and guides us in the use of the Toe By Toe manual to help teach struggling readers.
Toe By Toe in schools
Toe By Toe and vulnerable young people
Support assistants acting as mentors
Toe By Toe schemes in the majority of schools in the UK are run by teaching assistants. Most teachers, of course, do not have the time to give 20 minutes of individual attention to one child so most schools use TAs in the role of Toe By Toe tutor. It is important that the TA carefully follows the instructions as laid down in the manual but - as long as they do so - no formal training is required.
The teacher/senco may prefer to monitor progress carefully the first time a TA takes a child through the scheme, though the TA will very quickly see what is required. Experience helps, of course, but TAs soon begin to enjoy the process as they see the child’s confidence and ability begin to blossom.
One school which runs a particularly well organised - and highly successful - scheme along these lines is Lindley Junior School (rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted 2007-08) in Huddersfield. Organised by Ruth Shimell, SENCO at Lindley, the T.A.s work with the children for 20-minute sessions on a daily basis. There is also some support from parents at weekends but the pupils usually have five 20 minute sessions a week on weekdays. The Toe By Toe intervention at Lindley began in earnest in 2003 and impressive results are now expected for every child who goes on the scheme. In November 2007 the school reported that a total of 53 students had now finished Toe By Toe. The average time taken to finish was 17.5 months and the average improvement 37.2 months (as measured by Schonell). Truly remarkable results for struggling readers. As Ruth Shimell points out: “It is a long time since we have had any children who have left us not being able to decode at an appropriate level.” Since any literate person can act as a coach using Toe By Toe, some schools involve literally all the staff as literacy coaches.
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