The Government has announced that from Term 1 next year, 200 additional schools will have access to a trained structured literacy teacher to accelerate achievement for Years 0-2 students who need further support.
Earlier this year, the Government reprioritised $33 million from Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Support to align with structured approaches to teaching, benefiting 770 schools.
“We are relentlessly focused on giving more Kiwi kids confidence at school so they can achieve their potential. Due to high demand, we’re expanding literacy and maths intervention support so more students who need help, get it,” said Education Minister, Erica Stanford.
“We’ve reprioritised $5 million to meet the need of schools, it’s critical children who need support with reading are identified early and can be supported to get back on track.”
The Government is also expanding a targeted maths acceleration trial for Year 7 and 8 students who are struggling with maths.
“With significant interest from schools wanting to take part, 1,000 more students will now benefit from the intensive 12-week programme to bring them up to the required curriculum level in maths. This will mean 3,000 children will now take part in small group tutoring and supervised online tuition for 30 minutes, up to four times a week in Term 1 and 2 next year.
“This Government is ensuring schools are well-equipped to deliver structured literacy and structured maths in 2025. We are committed to getting 80 per cent of Year 8 students at or above the expected curriculum level in reading, writing and maths by 2030,” Ms Stanford says.
The expansion of the structured literacy intervention will now benefit 970 schools.
The number of students taking part in the maths trial has increased from 2000 to 3000, costing $3 million.
