Mary Billios is a teaching assistant who has run the support element of the Further Literacy Support (FLS) programme for the last three years. She demonstrates three sample lessons from the programme and discusses the demands and rewards of this level of literacy support. Working closely with class teacher Dan Pickard, Mary prepares, plans and delivers thirty-six FLS lessons over the twelve weeks, divided into three different modules: writing to persuade, imaginative story telling and chronological report-writing. Six Year 5 pupils are identified for out-of-class support and Mary leads these sessions with empathy, imagination and skill. This programme shows how Mary leads the sessions, encouraging pupils to develop both their thinking and writing skills and working through the comprehensive resources of the FLS programme. The children read extracts from their final pieces of work, stories about myths and legends and instructions for aliens to reach their school.

Video Series: Primary TAs
Release Date 2005