The importance of literacy across the curriculum

At Park View we believe that promoting high standards of literacy is fundamental to raising the achievement of all students. It is a tool for success in school life beyond the curriculum and in wider society and is an integral part of lessons across Park View.

What is literacy?

Literacy is the ability to read, write and speak to a high standard and be able to question and think in a complex and articulate way. Literate people are able to understand a wide range of written information and are able to communicate with others in a fluent and confident way, either in written or verbal forms. Literacy opens up opportunities: it allows young people to engage with ideas and to participate in debate and it ensures that they feel confident and capable in range of environments and scenarios. A high standard of literacy also allows young people to become more empathetic towards others and assess their own emotions more accurately.

What support will my child get to improve their literacy?

Lessons across the curriculum encourage students to develop speaking, reading, writing and questioning skills and teachers ensure the development of these skills across the ability range. Teachers actively promote a ‘reading culture’ by encouraging students to explore texts in lessons and to read widely outside of curriculum time.

Students are taught to appreciate the idea that different subjects have their own writing style and subject-specific terminology and are therefore encouraged to adopt different types of literacy throughout their day. The school actively teaches students to think, speak, read or write like historians, scientists, theatre critics, writers, mathematicians etc.

Students’ reading ages in Year 7, 8 and 9 are monitored and updated termly. This information is then made available to all teachers, allowing them to make more informed decisions about the needs of their class. Teachers can quickly identify pupils who may require more support to access vocabulary or texts given in class.

In addition, the school has a whole-school literacy marking policy that occurs in conjunction with subject specific marking. Across the school, a student’s work is marked for spelling, punctuation, tense and cohesion using a simple code-based system. This code is present in both student planners and on student exercise books to reinforce the idea that a high standard of technical accuracy is expected in any writing which they produce.

Alongside this, the school runs a number of specific programmes to develop and improve students’ literacy:

The Accelerated Reader programme is used to track students’ reading. Students are encouraged to read books which will extend and improve their reading ability and then take quizzes to check their understanding of their reading

• Literacy intervention sessions using Core 5, a computer-based reading programme. Using phonics and closely examining the fundamentals of reading, this software has been designed to develop pupils whose reading age is over two years below their actual age.
• A variety of reading groups which take place during tutor time
• A breakfast reading club (which runs from 7:15am every morning) where students earn a free breakfast in return for 15 minutes reading. 

More information regarding provision offered by the SEND department can be found on their section of the website.