Literacy Strategy
Literacy underpins the Academy curriculum by developing students' abilities to speak, listen, read and write for a wide range of purposes, using language to learn and communicate, to think, explore and organise. Helping students to express themselves orally and in writing enhances and enriches teaching and learning in all subjects. All departments and all teachers have a crucial role to play in supporting students' literacy development by teaching content and literacy simultaneously.
Golden threads.
The literacy golden threads need to be:
- Identified in schemes of learning.
- Embedded in teaching and learning.
- Clearly identified for all pupils during learning so that they are aware of the literacy skills underpinning their subject knowledge.
Principles
- Literacy underpins effective learning
- Literacy supports the raising of standards across the curriculum
- Every teacher is a teacher of literacy, including form tutors.
- Literacy is an entitlement of all learners
- Through becoming more literate, students are more able to fulfil their potential
- Literacy is most effectively imparted where colleagues actively model good practice and embed within teaching
- Our commitment towards literacy will be evident both within our classrooms and our schemes of learning
Aims
- Prioritise ‘disciplinary literacy’ in every subject.
- Break down complex writing tasks
- Provide opportunities for structured talk
- Provide targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject and strategies for approaching new vocabulary including the use of etymology and morphology to widen pupils’ ability to decode unfamiliar words.
- Develop students’ ability to read complex academic texts
- Combine writing instruction with reading in every subject
- Provide high quality literacy intervention for struggling / more able pupils (throughout)
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Reading |
Writing |
Oracy |
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There is an increasing amount of research supporting the important role of reading on lifelong learning and success in the workplace. We want our students to enjoy reading, to be able to use their reading to help them learn and to develop increasing confidence, independence and competence so that they are able to: • comprehend complex texts, and actively engage with what they are reading whilst using their existing subject knowledge. • implement a range of reading strategies, such as activating prior knowledge, prediction and questioning to improve their comprehension. • use strategies, such as modelling and group work, before support is gradually removed to promote independence. • have access to Drop Everything And Read to help with modelling positive examples of reading.
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Writing is challenging and students in every subject will benefit from explicit instruction in how to improve. We want our pupils to be able to: • access high level modelling of writing. • have access to targeted support t provide them with support to build confidence and competence with writing fluently, as this may affect writing quality. • access a variety of approaches, including collaborative and paired writing, to motivate them to write. • have access to dictionaries and thesauri and encourage them to be used within all learning environments.
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Talk is our main means of communication in everyday life and is fundamental to the development of understanding. Good oracy and listening skills are vital to success in the workplace and all other social contexts. We want our pupils to develop increasing confidence and competence in speaking and listening so that they are able to: • value talk, both in its own right and because of its impact on other aspects of learning. • participate in high quality talk that is typically well structured and guided by teachers. • recognise and appreciate that talk can be subject specific. • access modelling of high quality talk, for example including key vocabulary and metacognitive reflection. |
Assessing Literacy across the curriculum
When assessing pupils' work across the curriculum we should value their oral contributions and listening skills alongside their reading and writing.
We should take into account pupils' performance in speaking and listening, reading and writing when assessing and reporting on pupils' progress in subject areas.
When setting writing tasks we should make explicit to the pupils the key features of language, purpose and audience which will be considered for assessment.
When setting reading tasks we should break down complex academic texts so that texts are accessible for all pupils.
When responding to pupils' work we should:
Follow the agreed Academy Literacy marking policy, including using the designated marking codes in the margins of pieces of work. These literacy marking codes should be shared with pupils to ensure they are aware of the meanings of the codes and therefore be able to improve the literacy elements of their work.
Create opportunities and encourage proof reading of work and allow time for redrafting of work using green pen.
