Raising standards in literacy is the top priority at Little Ilford School, in a deprived and culturally diverse part of London. Support staff play a vital role in delivering the school's literacy strategy. Teaching assistants are highly valued at Little Ilford and encouraged to work in partnership with teachers, where TAs are assigned to specific departments rather than to particular children. In a school where ninety per cent of children are learning English as an additional language, teaching assistants have already helped raise standards through their work with the Reading and Writing Challenge. Headteacher Yvonne Powell is now preparing to hand responsibility for leading all the literacy intervention programmes to three Higher Level Teaching Assistants. This programme looks at the changing roles of teaching assistants and the effect on the school's literacy strategy. `Support staff' is the third literacy programme of four filmed at Little Ilford.

Video Series: Literacy - The Whole Story
Release Date 2006