Cross-curricular Literacy
At Woodroffe, we strongly believe that reading for pleasure fundamentally fosters a love of learning. Evidence suggests that those who regularly read for enjoyment develop a wide vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a greater sense of empathy and understanding of other cultures than those who do not.
Furthermore, increases in reading ability allow students to better access all areas of the curriculum.
Literacy in the Wider School
All teachers at Woodroffe are teachers of literacy and reading, regardless of their subject areas. We are a school that very much promotes a reading culture and ethos – and are rightly proud of the ways in which a high standard of reading, writing, speaking and listening are promoted across the curriculum.
Each tutor group has a tutor library, containing a large selection of books for use during the reading slot each week during tutor time. These texts are updated each year as students move up through the school (and we are always happy to receive donations of books!). In addition, Year 7 and 8 tutor groups have class reader sets of books for whole class reading with their tutor and co-tutor once a fortnight.
Across the school, teachers use classroom displays to make literacy visible: knowledge organisers and key word lists are evident, new vocabulary is modelled in context, study skills and learning habits are shown and explained. Teachers consistently make learners aware of the literacy skills used in each specific subject, and students see these skills as transferable across the curriculum.
All teachers – and peers – mark writing according to the Woodroffe School Literacy marking code. This consistent approach allows students to see patterns in the errors they make across the curriculum and enables literacy to be seen as something not restricted to English lessons.
Whilst for some, progress in literacy looks like understanding basic sentence structure, or increasingly fluently decoding words, for others progress looks like mastering the use of the semi-colon and evaluating challenging texts independently. Regardless, our aim is to primarily foster a love of reading and writing in all Woodroffe students, enabling them to become accurate and creative users of language in a range of different contexts.
Assessments and Homework
There are no assessments in Literacy lessons, though there are standardised reading comprehension and spelling age tests at the beginning and end of Year 7. Low-stakes Accelerated Reader and IDL quizzes are used throughout KS3 lessons.
Woodroffe students are expected to read for enjoyment for 20 minutes a day. Often, this is facilitated in tutor time, or Literacy lessons, but is also the consistent Literacy homework.
Facilities
Literacy lessons take place in English classrooms, where there is always plenty of choice of individual reading material to accompany whole class readers.
Students also spend some of their Literacy lessons in the well-equipped and inviting library. Here, pupils primarily spend the time reading independently for pleasure, or choosing a new text to read; they also might meet with their Sixth Form reading mentor, or may complete an Accelerated Reader quiz on a text they have studied to win points for their tutor group.
Mr Waters, the main school librarian, is always on hand to suggest a wide array of fiction and non-fiction texts, to order new books and to arrange fun reading related events (such as spin the poetry wheel, Carnegie book shadowing, streamed author talks…).
Students can borrow a huge range of books. They are also able to use the library at break time, lunch time and after school Monday to Thursday.
For more information about the school library, follow the link below.
The purpose of Cross-curricular Literacy at the Woodroffe School is to
- Support students in developing a love of reading
- Develop students’ skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening. This supports them in accessing the rest of the curriculum with success
- Inspire curiosity about words and ideas
- Encourage library usage for research, reading and studying
Year 7
The focus of the curriculum is for our students to develop
- Sustained independent reading habits
- An understanding of the impact of regular reading for progress across the whole curriculum
- A range of practical strategies for active reading of non-fiction subject content across all subjects
- A greater understanding of how skills in speaking and listening, and in writing can be applied and developed across all subject areas
Organisation
- Mixed ability tutor groups minus students taking Mandarin lessons (where running)
- Two class-based lessons per fortnight, plus one Library lesson
Accelerated Reader
Year 7 will use Accelerated Reader to promote regular reading of books of their choice. All students will access this, including students who take Mandarin and, therefore, are not in CCL lessons.
Homework
To support the Accelerated Reader programme, the homework set will be to read regularly at home. No other homework will be set.
Library sessions
Library sessions will be used to enable a variety of opportunities:
- Choosing and renewing books, fiction and non-fiction
- Sustained, independent reading
- Completing Accelerated Reader quizzes
- Reading around areas being studied across the curriculum
- Learning more about how the library works and how it can support learning across the curriculum
Year 8
The focus of the curriculum is for our students is to continue to develop
- Sustained independent reading habits
- An understanding of the impact of regular reading for progress across the whole curriculum
- A range of practical strategies for active reading of non-fiction subject content across all subjects
In addition, students will
- Develop understanding of Tier Two vocabulary which may be relevant in a variety of different subjects
- Have opportunities to develop their curiosity and creativity in relation to their reading and research habits
Organisation
- Mixed ability tutor groups, minus students taking Mandarin lessons
- One CCL lesson per week
- Every third lesson takes place in the Library, where students will have the opportunity to develop their research skills.
Homework
The homework set will be to read regularly at home. No other homework will be set.
Year 9
The students in this group will have been chosen for additional Literacy support. These students are not expected to take a GCSE in a foreign language but, in addition to the time spent on Literacy, also undertake some foreign language vocabulary work. This small group is taught by a teacher and a teaching assistant.
The focus of the curriculum is for our students to develop
- Enhanced literacy skills which will enable students to access all other areas of the curriculum more effectively, with a particular focus on establishing greater reading and writing stamina and attention to detail
- Study skills and revision strategies to equip students for approaching GCSEs
Organisation
- Six lessons per fortnight
- Regular access to the Library
- Learning of foreign language vocabulary using the online resource Linguascope
- Some 1-1 TA specific support for students with EHCPs
Homework
The homework set will be to read regularly at home. No other homework will be set.