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Mangotsfield Secondary

 

Literacy

The importance of promoting Literacy at Mangotsfield School:

Literacy is a priority area at Mangotsfield School. We want to reduce the impact of the pandemic for our students in relation to gaps in vocabulary and/or a lack of reading practice. Our school vision is to significantly improve the literacy of all our students in order to give them the best life chances and choices. Quality first teaching is central to our approach and therefore much of the support for literacy happens in the classroom. 

The school has a three year Literacy plan which focuses on targeted vocabulary teaching and interventions, whole school reading strategies and written literacy support. The Education Endowment Foundation suggests that literacy is “the key to academic success across the curriculum”. Current research suggests children who enjoy reading and writing are happier with their lives and are three times more likely to have good mental wellbeing than children who don’t. 

Literacy support for students:

  • At Mangotsfield School literacy is supported in lessons through some key resources. 

Unit topsheets: In every subject students are provided with unit top sheets which explain key terms, concepts and contain the topic’s keywords. 

Try Now sheets: Students receive feedback in lessons on a Try Now sheet; the everyone try task is a literacy based task which supports reading, writing or vocabulary development.  

Keywords: These are displayed around the classroom and are referred to routinely in lessons. Keywords are centered around tier 2 vocabulary which helps students understand the lesson content. 

Knowledge organisers: A student will have a knowledge organiser for every topic. These contain keywords, phrases, written models and examples to support students' learning and literacy. 

  • Literacy support is also a key part of the school’s mentor programme. The mentor reading programme covers 6 key reading strategies. Each term students are introduced to one of the reading strategies. 

 

The assembly delivered to students in order to support their understanding of the visualise reading strategy can be found here: Part 1  Part 2

  • All Key Stage 3 students have a fortnightly reading support lesson in the Learning Resource Centre. In these sessions students are supported to find a suitable reading book. Students take a STAR reading test at least twice a year to track their progress in reading and ensure they are fully supported in lessons and developing a love of reading. 
  • Homework at KS3 and KS4 supports literacy and the development of key vocabulary with quizzing of keywords and the retrieval of key facts which support reading and writing. 

In addition to our in class support, students are also supported in their literacy development through a range of interventions. Including:

  • Power up Lexia: A structured computer based literacy programme which aims to accelerate literacy progress in the areas of word study, grammar and comprehension. 
  • Inference training: Small group comprehension sessions based on developing inference and comprehension skills. 
  • 1-2-1 targeted sessions to support a specified literacy need led by the school’s literacy coordinator.

Literacy support for teachers:

  • Staff training sessions are delivered through the school CPD programme. Literacy is a key priority area for teacher development and is embedded within the school CPD programme. 
  • Time on INSET days is dedicated to staff training on reading strategies with a focus on how these can be embedded across the school
  • Lead Practitioners work with staff to provide developmental coaching opportunities linked to literacy.
  • Staff are well supported with their understanding of interdisciplinary literacy strategies and feedback from staff has found the programme supportive and effective.  Findings linked to the impact of the literacy training for teachers can be viewed here: Staff voice

Literacy support for parents/carers:

We want parents and carers to be able to support their child from home with their literacy development. For this reason we have shared the 6 key reading strategies with you in newsletters and they can also be found here

In addition please also find an example of the assemblies that have been shared with students this term: Part 1  Part 2

Parents and carers are informed when their son/daughter is invited for Literacy intervention sessions. A summary report is shared with parents/carers at the end of the intervention programme. 

Latest Literacy strategy - VIP words: Helping your child to read and build meaning at home:  

https://watch.screencastify.com/v/k0oHiAJDQPpAPNflWFBv

Term 4 How can I help my child with reading at home?