Standards and Improvement Team
Room G15
Rathgael House
43 Balloo Road
Rathgill
Bangor
BT19 7PR
Tel no: 02891 279416 (x59416)
Email: deborah.frost@deni.gov.uk
30 th July 2014
Delivering Social Change Signature Programme improving Literacy and
Numeracy.
Dear Principal,
As part of the Delivering Social Change Signature Programme improving Literacy and Numeracy, your school has received an additional resource to provide support for pupils at risk of underachievement in literacy and numeracy at either Key Stage
2 or GCSE English and maths.
As you are aware, the majority of the funding for this Signature Programme has been provided by the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister
(OFMdFM)
– approximately £13 million over the lifetime of the programme.
This Signature Programme is one of six programmes 1 being funded by OFMdFM and as part of their overall evaluation of these programmes; they have worked with
Queen
’s University, Belfast to develop a common metric to measure the effectiveness of these programmes on the lives of individuals.
This common metric takes the form of a short questionnaire to be completed by those who have received support from any of the six programmes. For the literacy and numeracy programme it is planned that the pupils receiving support from the programme will complete the questionnaire in September at the start of their support and again in April after they have received the support. A control group of pupils who have NOT received support under the programme should also complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire will be completed using Fronter and will only take about 15-20 mins for a group of pupils to complete.
The questionnaire being administered on behalf of OFMdFM and is completely anonymous, neither the pupil nor their school will be identified in any data collected.
1 Social Enterprise Incubation Hubs; Community Family Support Programme; Nurture Units; Parenting
Programme Development; Family Support Hubs; Literacy and Numeracy Programme.

A full set of guidance accompanies this letter. This guidance covers the use of the common metrics, instructions on the use of Fronter and guidance on the steps to take if the questions raise any issues with the pupils who complete the questionnaire.
The WELB as lead board is arranging training for all the signature programme teachers in September and this will include training on how to administer the questionnaire through Fronter.
If you have any questions regarding this please do not hesitate to contact either myself at ( 02891 279416) or Michael Burns, Project Manager, WELB (028 8224
0809).
Yours sincerely,
Deborah Frost
Standards and Improvement Team, DE.