Literacy at Hilbre High School
Literacy at Hilbre
At Hilbre, we believe that literacy and communication are essential life skills. As literacy is central to students’ academic, emotional and social development, it should be at the heart of any curriculum. We want our students to develop the skills and knowledge that will enable them to communicate effectively and creatively, through both the spoken and written language and finally, equip them with the skills to become lifelong learners and capable citizens.
Literacy in Active Form Time (AFT):
In Active Form Time this year, students will have opportunities to engage in high quality talk with the Form Tutor about a range of themes, issues and events. On Mondays, we have ‘The Great Debate’. Teachers will lead and facilitate a debate based on a current topic or theme that is prevalent in the news; this is updated each week. On Fridays, we have ‘Drop Everything And Read.’ Each term, we focus our reading on different forms of text from articles to academic journals.
Lexia Literacy Programme:
We as a school, have decided to invest funding, resources and time in this programme and really see it as a great resource provision for those students that need more personalised literacy help. We will ask each student to complete ninety minutes a week on the programme and ask that the majority of the work to be completed on a device at home. We currently have 60 students enrolled on the programme working to improve their literacy skills.
‘The Great Debate’ Discussion Topics
Each Monday, the students take part in a debate that focuses on an important current topic. Click the link to read some of the material we have discussed so far.
Literacy Strategy Map
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Year Groups |
DEAR/AFT Programme |
Competitions, Whole School Events and Rewards |
Teaching Strategies |
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Years
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The Great Debate – students will engage in discussions with Form Teachers on important issues at the time and develop oracy skills.
Word of the week on Monday morning each week – topical based on what the students will be discussing in The Great Debate.
DEAR timetabled once per week for 20 minutes. The students, with their Form Teachers, will read an extract that focuses on an issue and engage in high quality discussions about the reading.
DEAR. Reward points for participation.
Once every 4 weeks, the students get to pick an issue that they would like to class to discuss in The Great Debate.
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Visible Literacy noticeboards throughout the school.
Reading logs sent home to parents/carers to encourage more reading at home.
Newsletter to include book recommendations for students.
Annual summer reading challenge launch to prevent summer slide in reading – reward linked to competition.
Literacy awards for the end of year.
World Book Day and other literacy related events marked and celebrated as a whole school (Refugee Week/Mental Health Week/Assemblies/National Poetry Day, etc.)
Promotion of online Literacy games.
Half-termly competitions e.g. Free Write, Spoken English and Exploding word activities.
Debate and Newspaper Clubs.
National Writing/Speaking competition entries. |
Literacy ‘Do Now’ tasks within lessons.
Tiered vocabulary instruction in each subject.
Whole School reading and literacy updates announced on Mondays and Fridays.
CPD Sessions dedicated to delivering high quality training to staff.
Each subject having an end of unit homework that focuses on a piece of academic writing.
Reading strategies to be incorporated into lessons for more difficult texts.
Developing and using Literacy Mats/Knowledge organisers with sentence starters and paragraph stems to aid extended writing tasks.
Creating a checklist of features included in high quality answers or using it as a self or peer assessment tool.
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Year 12
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TBC
The A Level mindset – a programme for AFT in for Key Stage 5 to engage in high quality discussions.
Quotes that impacted the World. Every Monday, a new quote will be sent to Key Stage 5 Form Teachers to share. |
TBC |
TBC |
Literacy Action Plan:
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Autumn Term:
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Students at Hilbre High School are taught specific vocabulary in each subject and will have opportunities in AFT for high quality structured Talk. Strategies:
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Spring Term:
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Students at Hilbre High School are taught how to comprehend complex texts and actively engage with texts that they are reading, using their existing subject knowledge. Strategies:
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Summer term:
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Students at Hilbre High School will be taught how to break down complex writing by breaking writing down into planning, monitoring and evaluation. Strategies:
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