Intent

Oastlers School understands the importance of literacy skills; both in terms of qualification outcomes for all learners and, equally important, for life skills and preparation for life after school. The intention of English lessons both at KS3 and KS4 is to empower learners through strong reading, writing and spoken language skills.

Implementation

All learners reading ages and writing levels are assessed at entry point.  This informs our teaching to enable all teachers of English to plan and deliver differentiated lessons; which are tailored for the individual needs of the learner and which help to address the learning gaps from primary education.  This ultimately prepares learners for GCSE out comes in year 11. At Post 16 learners continue to work on and improve the literacy skills they have developed, with opportunities to re-sit the AQA GCSE English qualification.

In addition to timetabled English lessons; all learners participate in a morning reading program known as DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) whereby learners use LEXIA to strengthen reading and reading comprehension skills and/or read a reading book of their choice for pleasure. Oastlers has a well - stocked library with age appropriate books and learners are given opportunities to choose and recommend books that they would like to read.

Through the use of data, interventions are offered to the more and less able readers/writers. Learners requiring additional support attend our literacy and numeracy workshop to narrow the gaps in their knowledge and skills. Individually tailored interventions are provided which support and develop skills taught during English lessons. In addition to this, a spelling and grammar resource, assertive mentoring, is used to help strengthen writing skills.

A focus of the school is spoken language and closing the vocabulary gap. As a school we understand the importance of language and a great part of our teaching is to give our learners opportunity to become “word rich” This includes thematic, contextualized and experiential learning such as visits to theatre productions, creative writing workshops and visits to local stately homes.

Oastlers School has a whole school literacy policy whereby teachers of all subjects are required to include elements of literacy in their lessons, to provide learning opportunities for learners.

Impact

The impact of English teaching at Oastlers School has seen a 100% success rate at AQA GCSE English Language (levels 1-9). We have a strong literacy focus throughout school and as a teaching team we are committed to ensuring learners leave school with good literacy skills. We hope that this will provide learners with the confidence and skills to prepare them for employment and further education and life in the adult world.