Chipping Sodbury School

Chipping Sodbury School

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Literacy and Reading

Literacy and Oracy

Literacy, oracy and articulacy are golden threads that run right through every element of our curriculum.  We know that to succeed, our pupils need to be confident readers, writers and speakers and this informs all aspects of curriculum design here.  We have a three-pronged Literacy Strategy and these run through the planning and delivery of lessons in every faculty and department.

  • Vocabulary acquisition – equipping our students with an ambitious, rich and varied vocabulary with which to express themselves in their speech and their writing.
  • Reading of complex texts – we use various approaches to enable our students to access and understand complex, academic texts.
  • Oracy - we recognise the necessity for our students to be able to express themselves orally in both formal and informal settings.  Improved oracy is proven to impact positively on attainment across all subjects and makes pupils more confident and, ultimately, more employable.

We also recognise and celebrate the value of reading for pleasure.  Students are given regular opportunities for private reading as part of our tutor time programme.  We also encourage our students to read at home.  Studies have shown that reading regularly for pleasure can:

  • Improve brain connectivity – reading brains grow faster and better
  • Increase vocabulary and comprehension
  • Develop empathy
  • Aid better sleep
  • Reduce stress
  • Lower blood pressure and heart rate
  • Support mental health
  • Nurture creativity

Through an ongoing programme of staff training at both school and Trust level, and events such as World Poetry Day and our Athelstan Festival of Speech & Debate, the development of students' literacy and oracy skills and enjoyment of reading remains a key priority for us.  Staff share their own reading choices with students through our “What I’m Reading” boards and we have a very popular Book Swap Box in our Staff Room.  We know that we need to model reading if our students are going to continue to read throughout their time with us and into adulthood.

 

Literacy Legends

For several years we have run our highly successful whole-school reading programme, Literacy Legends.  Four times a fortnight our students are read to by our tutor team.  We have carefully selected a wide range of challenging texts that explore themes such as diversity, environmental damage, friendship, the impact of technology and morality.  Students are encouraged to engage with, and discuss, the issues raised by the books and in our library we signpost them to books we think they might want to try that tackle similar subject matter.  Here are just a selection of the books we provide:

Year 7:  Wolf by Gillian Cross & The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good by Kirsty Applebaum

Year 8:  Northern Lights by Philip Pullman & Thirteen by Tom Hoyle

Year 9:  The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros & Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Year 10:  Pigeon English by Stephen Kellerman & Every Day by David Levithan

Year 11: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

Year 6 Transition

We know how vital it is to continue the great work our primary colleagues have done when we meet our new Year 7s each September.  Our Year 6/7 Transition Lead has been working with our Trust Reading Lead to look at an intense programme of reading designed to engage our incoming Year 7s in deep thinking, reflection, discussion and debate.  To support them further we have created a summer learning pack entitled “Get CSS Ready!” which contains challenges for PE, Music, Science, History and many others.  Students who successfully complete all the challenges will receive a prestigious Headteacher’s Award.  The pack also offers advice on where to find support if students have any concerns or anxieties about starting secondary school.

 

National Literacy Trust

We continue to be members of the National Literacy Trust and benefit from their excellent CPD (Continual Professional Development), resources and national initiatives.  We hope to work with them on a variety of research projects over the next few years that will ensure Chipping Sodbury School has access to the very latest developments in literacy teaching and learning.