Literacy at Shaftesbury School is a whole-school affair, as every member of staff is committed to improving the standard of reading and writing across departments. Strong collaborative links between subject departments and the Resources Centre ensure that Literacy is promoted through the school. In addition, a variety of initiatives designed to raise literacy levels are in place:
Literacy Lessons
Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have one Literacy lesson per fortnight. In these lessons, we challenge students to improve and increase the range of their reading, and encourage them to:
- read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts which are accessed through a range of genres and themes
- develop their ability to read aloud with confidence, taking note of sentence structure and punctuation to increase fluency and expression.
- to regularly self-assess their progress and understanding of the texts they have read and the skills they have been taught
- understand increasingly challenging texts through:
- making inferences and referring to evidence in the text,
- developing the ability to empathise and predict,
- learning new vocabulary and relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and
- understanding it with the help of context and dictionaries
Accelerated Reader
We are signed up to Accelerated Reader: an innovative and exciting way to encourage reading, where students in Years 7 – 10 are challenged and rewarded for their reading time through quizzes and targets. Accelerated Reader enables students to see the progress they make in reading and also allows parents to be part of their success using Home Connect.
Designated Tutor Group Reading
Key Stage 3 tutor groups have at least 15 minutes each morning put aside for quiet reading. Students are encouraged to work towards their Accelerated Reader rewards during these times.
Tutor Group: Read, Register and Respond
Tutor groups in years 7-10 have one tutor time session of Read, Register and Respond.
Students will explore a range of fiction and non-fiction texts using a range of reading strategies from prediction to questioning and there is core focus on learning tier two vocabulary. There, are opportunities to discuss the literary contexts of the fiction texts and the issues and themes raised by the non-fiction texts.
Targeted interventions
Students entering Key Stage 3 are screened for a variety of literacy skills, and this determines the type of support or intervention they may be offered. Such interventions may include cumulative, multi-sensory individual or small group work that focuses on the acquisition of phonological skills and reading comprehension; Rapid Plus being one of the these interventions. Other interventions may be software-based. Students may be given the opportunity to improve their touch-typing skills using a further software-driven programme during tutor time, while others may receive occupational therapy input.
