Approved by:
Date:
Review date:
Governing Body
Autumn 2009
Autumn 2014
All teachers are teachers of literacy. Literacy is fundamental to personal and social development and lifelong learning. The staff of South Holderness
Technology College are committed to developing literacy skills in all of our students in the belief that it will support their learning and raise standards.
 All teachers share responsibilities for the development of literacy across the curriculum and recognise their statutory responsibilities.
 The English department play a lead role in developing the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to read, write, speak and listen effectively.
 Senior Leadership Team and Curriculum Leaders lead and give a high profile to literacy.
 All staff should ensure they are familiar with the specific literacy demands of their subject and ensure coverage of these skills in lesson planning.
 Curriculum leaders ensure that subject specific literacy is clearly identified in schemes of work and there is clear progression through the key stages.
 SENCO communicates with all staff about those students who have literacy difficulties and gives advice on how those students can be helped in individual subjects.
 Progress will be monitored as part of the whole college Monitoring and
Evaluation process.
 Governors will appoint a governor with a responsibility or special interest in literacy.
 Parents will be encouraged to be actively involved in the development of their child’s literacy skills.

 This policy covers the three interdependent areas of speaking and listening; reading; writing. Its contents are not exhaustive and understanding of literacy is developing all the time in line with the changes in social influences, pedagogy and national policy.
 We will develop a whole school focus for each of the three strands. This may change annually.
 We will teach students to use language precisely and coherently. They should be able to listen to others, and to respond and build on their ideas and views constructively.
 We will develop strategies to help students learn how to participate orally in groups of different sizes including: using talk to develop and clarify ideas; identifying the main points to arise from a discussion; listening for a specific purpose; discussion and evaluation.
 We aim to give students a level of literacy to enable them to cope with increasing subject demands in terms of specific skills, knowledge and understanding. This applies particularly in the area of reading (from all sources) as texts become progressively more demanding.
 It is important to build on and share good practice. Students will learn to: read with greater understanding; locate and use information; follow a process of argument; summarise, synthesise and adapt what they learn from their reading.
 We aim to provide for coordination across subjects to recognise and reinforce language skills.
 Students will have access to clear models for their writing and be enabled to make connections between reading and writing.
 Modelling will be used to make explicit to students how to write, how to adapt for audience and purpose.
 There will be opportunities for a range of writing including sustained writing.
 We will encourage an interest in a range of texts, reading for enjoyment and an interest in words and their meanings.
 All students will be helped to develop a clear understanding of the spelling and meaning of subject specific vocabulary.
 This is a whole college policy. However the English department is well placed to offer advice and expertise and will play a leading role in providing students with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to read, write, speak and listen effectively.
Literacy competence may be demonstrated by the extent to which students are able to:
Read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding.
Use a fluent, legible style of handwriting.
Understand the sound and spelling system and use this to read and spell accurately.
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Show an interest in words and their meanings and demonstrate the use of a growing vocabulary.
Understand and be able to write in a range of genres.
Plan, draft, revise and edit their own writing.
Use suitable technical vocabulary.
Understand, use, read and write a range of non-fiction texts.
Speak effectively to a range of audiences.
Listen and recall accurately and with interest.
Literacy development at South Holderness Technology College requires a shared understanding amongst staff of the relationship between language and learning and how work undertaken in different subject areas can contribute to the development of literacy skills.
By addressing all students’ literacy needs, we believe:
student motivation will improve, anxiety and frustration will reduce;
engagement with learning and behaviour will improve as learning becomes more accessible and enjoyable;
students’ confidence as speakers, listeners, readers and writers will increase and help to improve subject skills and knowledge;
staff/student relationships will be enhanced by the consequent improvement in learning and teaching.
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