Literacy Across the Curriculum
At Brompton Hall School, we recognise that the development of literacy skills is an entitlement for all students and the responsibility of the whole school community. The Literacy policy should be embedded in good learning and teaching practices throughout the school.
Pupils across all Key Stages follow the objectives for speaking and listening, reading and writing as laid out in the National Curriculum for English.
All elements of the school’s literacy policy should be reflected across the curriculum, build on the strengths of existing practices and procedures and reflects the individual needs of every pupil.
Aims
- To recognise that all teachers are facilitators of literacy through their subject
- To raise literacy attainment at every level of ability in all subject areas to ensure that we maximise the potential of every student
- To ensure that all students have the opportunity to become effective readers, writers and communicators
Objectives
- To recognise the potential of all students
- To assess the literacy attainment of all pupils more effectively
- To track pupil progress at all key stages and abilities
- To involve staff in the assessment and facilitation of literacy
- To devise whole school strategies and systems for literacy development
Management
The Curriculum Management Team (CMT), in conjunction with the Literacy Development Team (LDT), will lead and support literacy development across the school through:
- Regular, termly audits of current practice and procedures
- Collation and dissemination of information and data pertaining to literacy
- Planning, organising and leading staff training
Implementation
Each subject will seek to promote students’ appreciation of the links between speaking and listening, reading and writing and the value of each within their subject areas. The whole school curriculum will ensure that the literacy needs of all students are addressed in the following ways:
Speaking and Listening
- Using talk for a range of purposes and audiences
- Using talk to explore and evaluate
- Using talk to ask and answer questions
- Planning, discussing and evaluating their speaking and listening and that of their peers
- Solving problems collaboratively
Writing
- Developing an enjoyment of their own writing
- Writing in a variety of forms for different purposes and audiences
- Planning, drafting and discussing writing
- Using writing to organise their thoughts and aid learning
Reading
- Developing an interest in a variety of texts
- Reading with understanding and enjoyment for a variety of purposes
- Working out inferential meanings from texts
- Developing an interest in words, their abbreviations and meanings
- Using reading to research the subject
- Making effective use of school and public libraries
- Using the internet and other ICT texts effectively
In all subjects, teachers will aim to improve the literacy skills of pupils by:
Reading
- Identifying the most common types of reading ‘behaviours’ required by their subject
- Presenting reading tasks at a suitable level – differentiating texts based on pupils reading ages and barriers to learning identified on their IEP.
- Drawing pupil’s attention to structure, layout, form and print.
- Taking new pupils through any book they use regularly (e.g. textbooks) and showing them how to find their way around it.
- Showing pupils how to work on a text when they are expected to read alone (eg. refer to reading strategies posters, how to skim or scan, how to take notes, how to identify key points)
- Promoting reading for pleasure and information to pupils.
Writing
- Offering students models/frames for writing in a range of forms
- Providing appropriate activities for all levels, abilities and needs
- Demonstrating the way to organise and structure pieces of writing
- Providing annotated examples of writing in the subject, so that pupils understand what is required
- Displaying useful phrases to help pupils link and develop ideas in writing
- Helping students to draft writing through the subject context
- Supporting students with handwriting, spelling and presentational aspects of their writing
- Teaching students to spell identified subject vocabulary
- Providing constructive feedback on written work
Speaking and Listening
- Appreciating talk as a valuable area of learning
- Appreciate the differences between standard English and non-standard dialect forms
- Develop ideas through pair and group work, drama or role play
- Providing feedback on progress
In all subject areas, the organisation of lessons will aim to improve the literacy skills of pupils by:
- Providing a range of material to support the subject topic, discussion pictures, key word mats
- Providing texts at appropriate readability levels for all pupils (the layout, size and clarity of print, length of sentences and vocabulary appropriate to pupils)
- Providing materials that are up to date and attractive
- Designing activities that focus on identified subject vocabulary
- Worksheets are clear, in presentation and language, and tasks are appropriately/helpfully worded
In order to ensure the whole school curriculum strives towards meeting the literacy needs of all students, each subject area will be expected to:
- Use the literacy marking policy in their feedback to pupils
- Ensure that each subject policy refers specifically to the literacy development in their subject
- Ensure that schemes of work refer to literacy development and training activities
- Provide a range of practical strategies to encourage the development of literacy e.g., wall displays, subject specific vocabulary/spelling lists, clear labelling, dictionaries, good quality differentiated worksheets and board work.
In addition, the wider school curriculum will also be expected to promote literacy through:
- A range of age / level appropriate reading materials available on each residential unit to ensure that each pupil’s needs are being met.
- Promotion of relevant school/national competitions
- Encourage pupils to be actively involved in assemblies, unit forums, school council, meetings to develop their speaking and listening skills
- World Book Day Activities
- Use of school library
Monitoring, Evaluation and Review
3 Year Overview
Year 1:
- Re-launch the literacy marking policy across all subject areas and key stages.
- All staff to raise the profile and encourage pupils to become life-long readers, through whole school reading events.
- Literacy Development Team (LDT) to identify specific strategies required to facilitate the running of an intervention programme for selected pupils, monitored by the Curriculum Management Team (CMT).
- Staff training and sharing of resources and strategies which will be used and available in all teaching areas.
- Attend identified training and share best practice.
Year 2:
- Embed best practice – evaluate and review progress made by students. From this review, the Curriculum Management Team will ensure the Literacy marking policy and whole school approaches are being used by all staff through learning walks, lesson observations and work scrutinies.
- Intervention programme run and embedded with suitable pupils and progress assessed.
- Introduce differentiated writing frames for different types of writing to be used across all key stages and subjects.
Year 3:
- Continue to embed best practice and evaluate and review the progress made by students. Ensure all staff are planning for and using the writing frames for different writing purposes in their subject area.
All staff have a responsibility to reflect on their own practice in promoting, teaching and through their marking of literacy. Members of the CMT have a further responsibility to ensure that the policy is properly implemented in every area across the school.
The effectiveness and implementation of this policy will be reviewed by the Literacy Development and Senior Management teams