Literacy Policy
Literacy Policy
Literacy Policy
POLICY : LITERACY
All teachers are teachers of literacy. As such, the staff of BCCCS are committed to
developing literacy skills in all of our students, in the belief that it will support their
learning and raise standards across the curriculum, because:
Note:
This policy should e read in conjunction with the Policy for E2L Students.
• Provide students with knowledge, skills and understanding they need to read,
write and speak and listen effectively.
• Contribute to students’ development of language, since speaking, listening,
writing and reading are, to varying degrees, integral to all lessons.
• Encourage their children to use the range of strategies they have learnt to
improve their levels of literacy.
• Take increasing responsibility for recognising their own literacy needs and
making improvements.
• Language is the prime medium through which students learn and express
themselves across the curriculum, and all teachers have a stake in effective
literacy.
• All schemes of work and most, although not all lessons, should develop
literacy through the use of subject-specific and general vocabulary
• In all subjects across the curriculum, students should be given opportunities to
express themselves through language in the media of the written and spoken
word.
• In all subjects across the curriculum, students should be encouraged to speak
and write with good grammar, to develop their vocabulary, and to write with
correct spelling.
• Key vocabulary should be taught in introductions to lessons, employed in the
main body of lessons, and tested/recapped in plenaries at the end of lessons.
• We aim to give students a level of literacy that will enable them to cope with
the increasing demands of subjects in terms of specific skills, knowledge and
understanding. This applies particularly in the area of reading (including from
the screen), as texts become more demanding.
• We aim to teach students strategies to help them to: read with greater
understanding, locate and use information, follow a process or argument,
summarise, synthesise and adapt what they learn from their reading.
• We seek to build on and share existing good practice.
• inform
• recount
• explain
• instruct
• persuade
• discuss
• analyse
• evaluate
• write in structured ways (e.g. formal essays)
In use of language across the curriculum, faculties and subjects should seek to give
students opportunities to use subject-specific vocabulary.
Some students need additional support owing to learning and other difficulties, while
other students need to be challenged and extended.
• Questioning (open/closed)
• Use of different thinking skills in teaching and learning
• Adjusting the demands of the task
• Use of additional support (e.g. TAs)
• Use of group structures within classes
• Streams and sets
We seek to teach our students with special educational needs appropriately, supporting
their learning and providing them with challenges matched to their needs, through
using a range of teaching strategies such as guided group work, writing frames and
oral activities. Additional support is provided in a variety of ways, including TAs and
the LSU.
Our students learning English as an additional language need to hear good examples
of spoken English and also to refer to their first language skills to aid new learning in
all subjects of the curriculum. The use of their first language enables them to draw on
existing subject knowledge and to develop English language skills in context. For
example, a group of students can learn about paragraph organisation in their mother
tongue.
For more information, consult the MFL Department/see the Policy for E2L Students.
• Available data should be used in planning and assessing, including SATS (KS2
and KS3 as appropriate) and CATS.
• Assessment should also be undertaken with reference to other known
information about the statements (e.g. SEN, G&T, EAL).
• Assessment should lead to the setting of appropriate targets to enable students
to progress to the next level of learning and achievement.
We use a range of strategies and data to monitor and evaluate literacy across the
school. These do/can include:
www.literacyonline.org