‘Literacy is one of three key national priorities across Wales. The specific focus on developing our pupils’ skills in oracy, reading and writing is one that school X sees as central to its aim of supporting the learning of all of our pupils. In school X we aim to provide clear opportunities for our pupils to develop their language skills across all subjects and in all year groups. We believe that all members of our school community have a crucial role to play in supporti ng pupils’ literacy development. This policy aims to outline our shared principles, aims and framework for developing the literacy skills of our pupils ’.

Aims:
In school X we aim to :
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Identify the literacy skills and needs of each of our pupils;
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Equip our pupils with meaningful targets in oracy, reading and writing;
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Work with our pupils on agreed literacy targets across all subjects;
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Provide pupils with a range of approaches, skills and opportunities to develop and extend their reading and writing;
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Encourage our pupils to speak, read and write for pleasure;
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Enable our pupils to use language effectively in a range of contexts and for different audiences and purposes.
In school X, we believe that literacy is a central feature of teaching and learning. We also believe that it involves the whole school community.

Senior Management Team (SMT):
The SMT will act as ‘Literacy Champions’ and provide strategic support for literacy across the whole school. This will include overseeing the collection of literacy data and targets and ensuring that literacy maintains a high profile across the whole school. The support of training and development opportunities for staff, pupils and parents will form part of this role.
Heads of Department:
Heads of department will each appoint a literacy lead for their subject area.
This lead will attend literacy team meetings and ensure the subject area is aware of literacy expectations and developments as needed. Heads of
Department will also track literacy through the departmental schemes of work and also manage literacy audits as identified by the literacy co-ordinator.
Literacy will also be an item for discussion at each departmental meeting.
Teaching staff:
Teachers will identify and make the most of opportunities for developing literacy within their subject areas and will develop pupils’ skills as part of their teaching. They will make reference to whole school approaches regarding oracy, reading and writing as per their departmental schemes of work, and consider the language demands of their lessons in planning, teaching and assessing learning.
Literacy co-ordinator :
The literacy co-ordinator will support departments in the implementation of whole school strategies and the sharing of good practice. This will include regular timetabled meetings with departmental literacy leads. The literacy coordinator will liaise with local and national parties so as to maintain awareness of emerging priorities and new approaches. They will then pass this knowledge on to others.
Support Staff:
In class support staff will familiarise themselves with the whole school policy, as well as whole school specific strategies for oracy, reading and writing.
They will be part of the target setting and support team for the development of pupils’ literacy skills. Where appropriate to role, staff will develop understanding of the particular language needs of pupils they may work with.
Pupils :
Pupils will aim to demonstrate where they are working towards developing their literacy skills. They will engage in termly progress talks and agree next steps for their literacy skills.

Parents :
Parents will be kept up to date with their child’s progress in literacy and will be invited to attend progress evenings. Parents will be given opportunities to find out about whole school strategies for developing reading and writing across the school. Parents will be encouraged to engage in dialogue with the school regarding their child’s literacy practices through a number of means. These will include regular progress meetings where necessary; regular use of the home-school diary and attendance at literacy evenings.
Governors :
A member of the school’s governing body will focus in on literacy development across the school. This will include maintaining awareness of the school’s literacy initiatives; considering the training and resourcing needs of staff and attending meetings related to literacy once a term.

The literacy framework at School X comprises of three key areas: Oracy,
Reading and Writing. These are outlined below and are supplemented further by the Literacy Handbook, which develops each of these areas in more detail and provides exemplar material, photo-copiable resources and so on.
Oracy:
At school X we recognise the importance of developing pupils’ skills in speaking and listening, both as an end in itself and as a way of supporting pupils’ thinking, reading and writing. The development of pupils’ oracy skills across all subjects will include:
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Structured group talk activities and problem solving activities.
 Developing pupils’ ability to use talk for a range of purposes and audiences.
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Making specific, purposeful links between oracy, reading and writing in lessons.
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The use of specific strategies such as talk partners, speaking frames and talk for writing where appropriate.
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Active opportunities for pupils to develop their listening and questioning skills.
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Enabling pup ils to clarify and develop their own and others’ ideas through talk .
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Agreeing next steps for the development of skills in speaking and listening.
Reading:
At school x, we want our pupils to have the skills to engage with a range of texts, including electronic and media texts. We also want to develop an enthusiasm for reading and equip our pupils with arrange of reading strategies. The development of reading across all subjects will include :
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The teaching of reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, close reading and reading for inference.
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Using explicit strategies for reading texts particular to the demands of a topic, subject or learning objective across the school.
 Exploring how to ‘read’ and interpret tables, graphs and diagrams; how to transfer or use information from two or more types of text.
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Incorporating whole school reading strategies in all classrooms.
 Making use of pupil data in the support and extension of pupils’ reading skills

across all subjects.
 Developing pupils’ skills in engaging with electronic, web and other types of text.
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Encouraging pupils’ enjoyment of reading through whole school and subject specific initiatives.
Writing:
At school X, we recognise that writing is dependent upon oracy and reading and make the most of opportunities to not only use but develop pupils’ writing in each subject area. The development of writing across all subjects will include:
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The use of whole school approaches to writing in all subjects.
 Developing pupils’ skills in writing for a variety of purposes by using strategies such as modelling, planning models, shared writing and scaffolding for writing in all subjects.
 Making clear, purposeful links between pupils’ oracy, reading and writing.
 Agreeing next steps in the development of pupils’ skills in writing in all subjects.
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Using an agreed whole school marking scheme for writing.
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Explicit teaching of common features of text types as pertinent to each subject.
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Clear exposure of the language demands of each subject in terms of vocabulary, structure, purpose and audience.
Each of these key areas will be evaluated on an annual basis in collaboration with the school community. The specifics of strategies and approaches for the development of oracy, reading and writing can be found in the Literacy handbook.

Monitoring
At school X, we recognise the need for manageable, effective monitoring and evaluation systems, which can then lead to quick, effective change. These systems include information on a pupil, class, department and whole school level.
A summary of our approach:
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Class teachers identify collect and input literacy data on each pupil on a half termly basis for their oracy, reading and writing. This uses existing data as a base level. This information is then looked at by the department literacy lead. If any clear patterns emerge, these are investigated with the class teacher.
The above box has been left for you to complete.
The monitoring and evaluation of pupils’ progress in literacy is a central part of an effective approach to literacy. You may want to consider:
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How and if you will co-ordinate information from class teachers, departments, parents, pupils, support staff and so on.
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The use of different layers of data collection at different time: weekly, half termly, termly, yearly, for example, may be worth consideration, too.
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What information will you be gathering and who will be collecting it? How will it be inputted, analysed, shared?
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The purpose of evaluation and monitoring for the pupil, departments and the school.