SCALBY SCHOOL

LITERACY POLICY

HISTORY OF DOCUMENT

Issue No. / Author / Date Written / Approved by Governors / Comments
1 / S. Beeby / September 2014 / 15.10.14 / New Policy
2 / P. Offord / November 2015 / 2.12.15 / Re-approved with changes
  1. Aims

Literacy is at the heart of everything we do. Without the ability to read for comprehension, critically respond to written texts, express their ideas successfully in written form, communicate effectively verbally and listen attentively, students will neither be able to access the curriculum successfully nor engage in the world beyond school. Therefore, it is recognised that every teacher at Scalby School is a teacher of literacy and every subject requires confidence and fluency in literacy in order for students to flourish. There will be a coherent approach to supporting the development of students’ literacy. Literacy will be evident in every class room in the school. All teachers should “demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high standards of literacy and the correct use of standard English, whatever the teacher’s specialist subject” (Ofsted, 2011, Literacy Guidance to Inspectors).

  1. Definition

Scalby School considers the definition of literacy to be all three components of effective language use - speaking and listening, reading and writing. The aim of this policy is to recognise that for students to achieve success across all areas of school life, teachers must support, harness and embed their literacy skills and in so doing, raise attainment in their subject areas. By applying a consistent literacy policy throughout Scalby School, we aim to raise literacy attainment at every level of ability, in all subject areas, in order to maximise the potential of every student, and to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to become effective readers, writers and communicators.

  1. Overview

A whole school literacy policy is necessary because:

  • Pupils need vocabulary, expression and organisational control to enable them to succeed in all their subjects and to prepare them for the challenges that will face them in later life.
  • Reading different texts helps pupils to learn from sources beyond their immediate experience and broadens vocabulary and imagination.
  • Writing helps pupils to express ideas, opinionsand helps sustain and order thought.
  • Improving literacy improves learning and impacts directly on pupils’ self-esteem, motivation and behaviour. It empowers pupils to succeed.
  1. Roles and Responsibilities

Senior Leadership Team and Literacy Coordinator

The Senior Leadership Team and Literacy Coordinator will implement the policy by:

  • Ensuring that Subject Leaders regularly evaluate the implementation and impact of the literacy policy.
  • Carrying out drop-ins to evaluate the impact of the literacy policy.
  • Foster a culture of reading across the school.
  • Facilitate a reading age tests throughout the year - the results of which are to be made available to the whole staff team to support effective planning and differentiation.
  • Establishing a Literacy Working Group (LWG) which will meet at least once a half term will work to ensure the sharing of outstanding literacy practice and consistency across the school.
  • Offering whole school training to staff to support the implementation of the Literacy Policy.

Subject Leaders

Subject teachers will implement the policy by:

  • Writing and keeping up to date a specific literacy focus as part of the Department Development Plan which will be based upon the key literacy skills to be developed in that particular department.
  • Carrying out monitoring and evaluation in the form of drop-ins, lesson observations, book trawls, lesson plan sampling to assess implementation and impact of the literacy policy in their department areas.
  • Appointing a Literacy Co-ordinator, who will attend meetings of the Literacy Working Group. Some faculties may decide to appoint a faculty literacy co-ordinator particularly if the faculty is comprised of small subject areas.
  • Ensuring their subject area has compiled a list of key vocabulary and is present in classrooms clearly visible from any point in the room.
  • Creating and sharing their own reading lists for students who wish to read independently.

Subject teachers and TAs

Subject teachersand TAs will implement the policy by:

  • Following the feedback and marking policy and marking up to two literacy errors per page during every marking cycle
  • High frequency words should be the initial focus for correction, together with homophones and subject-specific words.
  • Regularly promoting spelling as a focus of self and peer assessment through using dictionaries.
  • Ensuring that throughout every unit of work, subject specific terminologyistaught explicitly.
  • Ensure that the reading age for each pupil is transferred to the seating plan and work record sheet and referred to during planning.
  • Providing students with sentence stems as well as other effective scaffolding methods to support and enhance their pupils’ expression and communication.
  • Ensuring students use formal Standard English in their writing and oral work as appropriate.
  • Developing their pupils’ oracy skills as a way to enhance their written communication. This can be achieved through developing effective questioning techniques and providing opportunities for paired, group and whole-class discussions.
  • Using the Learning Resource Centre, where appropriate, to promote reading and research strategies.
  • Ensuring that all work is titled and dated, and that all titles and dates should be underlined using a ruler. The date is to be written in words using capital letters i.e. Tuesday 2nd September, 2014.

Students

Students can support this policy by:

  • Reading a wide range of texts (both fiction and non-fiction).
  • Using formal Standard English in their speech and writing as appropriate.
  • Ensuring that they pay close attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar.
  • Taking pride in the presentation of their work.
  • Writing the title and date of all work in full.

Parents

Parents can support he implementation of this policy by:

  • Reading with their children and encouraging them to read more widely.
  • Buying books as presents.
  • Visiting libraries or reading events.
  • Reading through their children’sschool and homework and discussing with their children feedback written by teachers.
  • Making every effort to attend parents’ evenings when requested.

Governors

It is the role of the governing body to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of this policy and its practice.

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