Literacy in every classroom and every subject

We have used evidence from the EEF ‘improving Literacy in Secondary Schools Guidance Report’ and strategies recommended by the National Literacy Trust to support our ongoing emphasis on disciplinary literacy across the school.

Our focus on disciplinary literacy strengthens our student’s ability to communicate like experts in each subject area; supporting the development of better global literacy skills.

Each subject has a disciplinary literacy framework outlining how strategies for reading, writing and oracy are explicitly taught to support the acquisition of conceptual knowledge across the curriculum and in lessons, subject-specific vocabulary is not presumed; it is taught, learned and understood.

As a school you will see the following disciplinary literacy strategies interwoven across our curriculum:

• Vocabulary mapped against the KS4 foundation year learning journey.
• Use of Bedrock Mapper to embed the use of high utility, portable words (tier 2 and 3 vocabulary) which allow students to understand key concepts.
• Key vocabulary being taught using evidence-based strategies.
• Strategies for communicating (reading, writing and speaking) like an expert explicitly taught in all subjects.

Whole school promotion of reading, writing and grammar is supported by Bedrock learning. Each student in year 7 and 8 follows a digital literacy curriculum as an ongoing homework expectation which encourages independence with literacy concepts and helps them to apply these in other contexts.

To view the Disciplinary Literacy Frameworks, please click the relevant subject below.