Education Scotland have recently released the Primary One Literacy Assessment and Action Resource (POLAAR).

The resource, used in the early stages of primary, aims to pre-empt future literacy difficulties – whilst also providing relevant activities and strategies which can support learners to achieve their full potential.

The resource follows a staged intervention, as follows:

Observing the literacy environment and taking action
An audit tool which can be used by SMT/P1 staff to identify the opportunities that are currently provided – this is recommended as the first step in the action process.
CLICK HERE POLAAR Early Literacy Environment Assessment

Observing the child and taking action
Questionnaire done with selected individuals who teachers feel are at risk of literacy difficulties. The actions can then be used to support individual children at this stage; it would be good practice to begin a Form 1 to track the support given to individual learners.
CLICK HERE POLAAR Child Observation Assessment
CLICK HERE POLAAR Child Observation Assessment with Actions
CLICK HERE POLAAR Learning and Teaching Resources

Three-minute teacher assessment
After some time of embedding the actions, class teachers – in conjunction with relevant support staff – may wish to complete a further questionnaire, or alternatively use the three-minute teacher assessments. At this stage, class teachers would continue to use the recommended actions.
CLICK HERE POLAAR Three-Minute Assessment

The three-minute teacher assessments may also be something which SMT/ASN staff conduct across Primary 1, towards the end of the session, to track the three areas of literacy within the assessments. As each set of three assessment takes around ten minutes, class teachers may require support from a PSA/ASNT or a member of the SMT to conduct the assessments.

Further detailed assessment
The class teacher, in conjunction with the SMT, may feel it appropriate to undertake a more detailed assessment. Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) may be purchased by the school as a standardised assessment – similar to Assessment for Excellence (AfE) at P3, P5 and P7.

Further reading
It is recommended that practitioners undertake further reading associated with the POLAAR resource. At Highland Literacy, we will also post relevant links and resources throughout the session which will support the use of the POLAAR resource.
CLICK HERE POLAAR Literature Summary
CLICK HERE POLAAR Research Project
CLICK HERE POLAAR Glossary of Terms

CLICK HERE to download a zip-file including all of the resources included in the POLAAR resource.