Policy & Practice: Policy into practice - Integrated approachneeded to boost literacy

But it is no wonder the Government has been criticised for failing toreach its literacy targets again this year. Teachers' leaders have longdescribed as unrealistic the target of getting 85 per cent of allchildren up to a standard Level 4 in English. It is not attainable, theysay, because too much time is spent on getting children up to standardin tests at the expense of other activities. Subsequently, children arebored and demotivated.

However, teachers at Charles Dickens Primary School in Southwark,London, have made remarkable progress using drama, art and music toengage children in reading and writing. In 1998, when the schoolintroduced the programme, 58 per cent of pupils had English as anadditional language and a large number of pupils were disaffected. Theschool was failing at that time but is now among the top five per centin the country.