Literacy

Rationale

We aim to put literacy at the very core of learning in all subjects: the power of language is limitless. For any individual to thrive and maximise their potential, they must not only be literate, but be able to use and understand the power of language in its many guises and contexts. Developing a robust programme of literacy, which offers students a consistency of experience, a broad range of materials and challenges and places the acquisition of skills at its core, is what we must continually strive to attain and improve on. We aim to live by the principle that every day, every child, in every classroom has a positive learning experience. We wish to ensure that every opportunity to expand and enhance skills in literacy are taken, in a coherent way. A commonality of approach will be vital if we are to achieve this.

Aims

• To embed Disciplinary Literacy in all subjects
• To establish a broad and ambitious reading curriculum, in terms of fiction and non-fiction texts
• To use current research to inform best practice in classroom teaching
• To use reading to promote a more extensive world view
• To furnish students with the literacy means to secure strong academic progress
• To abide by the mantra ‘we read for pleasure, purpose and progress’
• To develop a shared understanding of the importance of effective literacy strategies in preparing students for both public exams and life beyond education
• To promote a commonality of language for strategies related to working with the written and spoken word, so that students have a consistency of experience across the curriculum
• To establish a regular, respected and consistent testing regime to identify those who are not meeting age related expectations for reading and find appropriate interventions

Priorities

1. To provide targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject for tier 2 and tier 3 words. This will include mapping key vocabulary from each topic and how it will be taught, recorded and assessed.
2. To provide a broad and balanced reading curriculum, ensuring that reading materials are documented and explicitly labelled in schemes of work. This will include identified texts for information gathering, knowledge retrieval, reading progress and reciprocal reading activities.
3. To ensure that the vast majority of students are reaching age-related expectations in terms of reading skills and benchmarks
4. Prioritising ‘Disciplinary Literacy’ across the curriculum, bridging gaps in reading, writing vocabulary and oracy through carefully sequenced schemes of work.