St Eunan's School
About the school
St. Eunan's in Clydebank started using SHM two years ago, and use all stages of the programme. Helen Lamb, DHT, explains how they use SHM.
Choosing SHM
"The Head Teacher asked me to have a look at a number of resources to see which suited our needs best. I thought that SHM was the most appropriate for our needs, because it matches 5-14, it has a focused approach, and it's very teacher and pupil friendly. I felt that it would suit our children down to the ground. And it's met my expectations. It works for all of us, and we have found implementation straightforward."
Great Teaching File
"The Teaching File is really good. It is very teacher-friendly, with manageable planning. I like the structure of the lessons in terms of Tune-ins, teaching activities and pupil activities. The File is detailed, but not overly so, and it is easy to follow. There are some great areas about how to approach teaching all of the topics. And we like the level of interactivity – it helps set everything very firmly in the children's minds."
Pace of progression
"We feel that with SHM we can set an ambitious the pace for the brighter children. Now in Primary 5 our top set our working at Level D, which we have only been able to do with SHM. Having said that, the Textbooks and Extension Textbooks work well for the slower learners too. And our results have improved; we've seen an increase in our National Assessment results."
Children love the Pupil Books
"The Pupil Materials are great. They are very bright, attractive and modern. The illustrations appeal to the children and the language is age-appropriate. I've just seen the SHM7 Textbooks and I know the children are going to love them!"
Useful Home Activity Sheets
"We make good use of the Home Activity Sheets, and this is another plus point for SHM. They are very focused on what the children are doing in class, and it reinforces what they are learning, using similar language and a similar approach."
Straightforward assessment
"The assessment within SHM works well for us as well. It allows us to track the progress of individuals as well as groups, and we can easily pinpoint any difficulties very early on. Then we can let parents know at an early stage and explain any problem areas."
SHM in a nutshell
"All the teachers have responded to the introduction of SHM in a very positive way. Teachers further up the school have seen what the benefits have been for the lower years, and have been looking forward to their resources to be published. It's teacher friendly, it's pupil friendly, and it suits the way we need to teach now. It is so much better than dipping in and out of resources as we did before. Now we've got everything all together and just where we need it."