Literacy for Life
Literacy for Life for Years 7, 8, and 9
Our literacy strategies: We use a range of strategies to help any student whose reading age is not the same as their actual age.
- Regular reading age testing: We test our students’ reading ages every term to ensure that progress is being made. Where students are not at their expected reading age we then use one of our literacy interventions to enable students to make progress. This also informs us if students are well above their reading age, so that we are able to continue to challenge them in lessons.
- Chessington Literacy Improvement Program (CLIP): Students are seen by a member of staff once a week for 6 weeks. A reading age test is taken at the beginning and at the end of the program. The program is run with one trained adult and a maximum of four students at a time. The teacher will then deliver the program, which focuses on reading at speed and breaking down words in to more manageable chunks. On average, students’ reading ages have improved by around 24 months with this program!
- Small group reading with a TA: Students who come to us with a reading age well below what we expect will work closely with a teaching assistant (TA), concentrating on six main areas of comprehension to make steady progress and to equip them to start becoming an independent reader.
- One to One reading with a governor: Students in upper school, who are close to their reading age (they may be a little rusty!) have the opportunity to read with a governor who comes in to support us.
Literacy boosters: In lessons we offer lots of support to be able to complete written tasks and read subject specific information.
- Tutor time intervention – Literacy booklets for all students in Years 7, 8 and 9.
- Literacy mats for reading and writing.
- Keywords for all subjects displayed and defined for all students.
- Literacy visitors to the school: assemblies run by poets and speakers from our local Hook Library.
- Regular spelling tests in most subjects to increase technical vocabulary.
What parents can/must do to ensure students are always at or above literacy levels:
- Read regularly with your child. Hear and see them read.
- Read what your child is reading: especially their set texts in English!
- Is your child a reluctant reader? What movies do they enjoy? Have you tried subtitles? What about the book of the film? See Mrs Massey for recommendations!
- Join our Parent Reading Scheme! Whether you are reading to your child, can spare some time to pop in and read with a student or want tips on how to get your child back in to reading – the Parent Reading Scheme is for you.