1. Definition of literacy in the view of this school

   The school wishes to develop in every student:

- a high level of skill in listening, talking, reading and writing

- the ability to gather information from a wide range of materials, including graphs and tables, media texts and ICT as well as traditional print media such as books and newspapers

- the ability to transmit information in a wide range of forms

- the understanding to choose and the ability to write or speak in a form and style appropriate to the task <top>

2. Purpose of the policy

- to raise literacy awareness in staff and pupils

- to raise pupils’ attainment at every level and in every skill

- to encourage staff to work as a whole school to achieve these goals

- to encourage departmental development of schemes of work which explicitly include good literacy practice <top>

3. Desired outcomes of the policy

- pupils’ confidence as listeners, speakers, readers and writers will be increased

- pupils’ skills in all language areas will improve

- thinking skills will be explicitly linked with language work

- pupils will be familiar with a variety of texts

- pupils will develop a range of reading skills appropriate to a variety of tasks and texts

- pupils will develop a range of writing skills appropriate to tasks

- pupils’ information gathering skills will improve

- pupils’ ability to read information texts critically will improve

- there will be more opportunities across the curriculum for developing literacy skills <top>

4. Principles underlying the policy

- literacy includes listening, talking, reading and writing

- all staff share responsibility for pupils’ literacy and attainment

- the school’s curriculum already includes sound literacy practice and the current policy will build on that practice

- the literacy policy should be reflected in the curriculum and schemes of work for each subject

- good practice will take account of the policies for and practice in SEN, ICT, Life Skills and the cross-curricular themes, and will integrate the Curriculum Advisory Group’s work on thinking skills into literacy work

- good practice will develop interest in and enjoyment of language as well as skills <top>

5. Implementation of the policy

- chair a literacy working party

- gather relevant information, ideas and resources and communicate these to the working party and the staff as a whole

- oversee cross-curricular development of good literacy practice

- oversee monitoring of literacy development

- identify needs and set priorities and targets with the help of the working party

- manage staff training in the field of literacy <top>

(b) The working party will

- incorporate one member of staff from most of the school’s departments

- discuss needs, priorities and targets

- liaise with Heads of Department and the literacy co-ordinator on strengths, needs and development within departments

- develop and evaluate a whole-school approach to and action plan for literacy teaching  <top>

(c) The Senior Management Team will

- recognise and support the work of the literacy working party

- provide time and resources for training and meetings

- appoint a member of the SMT to liaise with the literacy working party <top>

(d) Resources available in school to support the policy

[this will include a list of teaching resources when we have acquired some!]

- a well-stocked library

- excellent ICT facilities

- excellent media equipment <top>

(e)Teaching methods applicable to the policy

Teaching methods should

- encourage creative thought, speech and writing

- include whole class, group, paired and individual activities

- include shared, guided and independent reading, writing and talking

- include shared, guided and independent research

- ensure that tasks have clearly identified literacy learning opportunities where this is relevant and possible

- ensure that pupils understand the literacy aims and objectives of the lesson or activity

- take account of different learning styles

- ensure that pupils and teachers have high expectations of the pupils’ abilities

- incorporate an awareness of literacy issues into marking and assessment, highlighting pupils’ strengths and areas for improvement

- ensure that homework reinforces the good literacy practice encountered in the classroom <top>

6. Planning, monitoring and evaluation of the policy

(a) Departments will be encouraged to [required to]

- develop a department-specific literacy policy which highlights literacy needs and opportunities within the context of that subject

- base their planning on pupils’ prior educational experiences

- assess the success of the literacy element in their syllabi

- most importantly, share relevant ideas and methods via the literacy working party <top>

(b) The working party will

- co-ordinate approaches across the curriculum

- endeavour to ensure that literacy planning is based on pupils’ prior educational experiences

- where possible, identify approaches to literacy work which are common to several or all subjects

- continually assess the success of the literacy policy in achieving its goals <top>

(c) Evidence which may be used by departments and by the working party to evaluate the success of the policy and areas for future development may include

- pupils’ work, including classwork, coursework and school exams

- end of key stage external assessments

- interviews with staff, children and parents

- pupil tracking

- departmental and whole-school staff meetings <top>

7. Timescale for implementation of the policy

It is hoped that schemes of work for Year 8 will be available for the beginning of the 2001-2002 academic year and that the policy will be implemented for this year group alone during that year. It is the school’s intention that during 2001-2002, schemes of work should be developed for Year 9 and the impact on Year 8 should be assessed.
A similar pattern should occur in succeeding years, with the literacy policy gradually applying to all year groups by about 2007-2008. This should allow the working group’s planning to be securely based on pupils’ needs and on their educational experiences to date. <top>