Literacy

At SCC, we recognise that literacy is the foundation for academic success and future life opportunities. The ability to read, write and communicate effectively underpins learning in every subject and equips students with the skills they need to thrive beyond school. As such, literacy is at the heart of our curriculum. Our approach can be organised into five key areas, as outlined below:

Vocabulary Building

Vocabulary building is essential for developing reading comprehension, writing fluency and oral communication, which are crucial for academic success and preparing students for life beyond school.

We provide targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject, which is deliberate, structured and embedded within subject teaching. This helps our students develop word consciousness, supporting long-term retention.

• We carefully identify and explicitly teach important academic and subject-specific vocabulary in all subjects that supports students in accessing complex ideas. This includes a focus on etymology and morphology to support students in understanding word meanings and improve spelling.
• In line with our Teaching and Learning principle ‘don’t assume prior knowledge’, we never assume that students already understand key vocabulary. Instead, we pre-teach essential terms using approaches such as the Frayer Model, helping to clarify meaning and possible misconceptions.

Reading for Understanding and Pleasure

Reading is a key driver of academic success and personal development. We know that students who enjoy reading are more likely to read widely and frequently, improving their vocabulary, comprehension and general knowledge. At SCC, we support reading in a number of ways, including:

• In all subjects, texts are carefully selected that are challenging, diverse and relevant to the curriculum, ensuring students are regularly exposed to high-quality reading materials. 
• We use Reciprocal Reading across the school, providing students with a systematic approach that they can apply to decode the meaning of challenging texts.
• We regularly assess students’ reading in school and make sure this information is shared with teachers in all subjects. This informs ‘Class Reading Profiles’ for each class, enabling teachers to tailor materials and strategies to meet the needs of all students.
• Our Tutor time ‘Thoughts for the Week’ programme includes reading and discussion of current news articles, developing both reading skills and students’ awareness of events and issues from the wider world.
• We actively promote a love of reading in a variety of ways, including through our school library that is a central part of school life, and through use of Sparx Reader, which all students have access to.

Writing

Writing is a skill that must be explicitly taught and practised across all subjects. We use a range of approaches to support students in developing the fluency, accuracy, and confidence needed to express their ideas clearly and effectively.

• We support students in tackling extended writing by breaking down tasks into manageable steps. Teachers use modelling, scaffolds and sentence stems to help students structure their writing and develop analytical and evaluative responses.
• We employ a range of ‘Thinking Tools’ such as the Thinking Hats and Thinking Maps that support students to develop the ideas to include in their writing.
• We teach vocabulary and spelling explicitly, with a focus on etymology and morphology, helping students to understand word structure and meaning.
• We value legible and fluent handwriting as a foundation for effective written communication. Teachers model high standards of handwriting and provide regular opportunities for students to practise and improve.

Oracy Skills

High-quality, inclusive classroom talk supports students in developing their understanding of subject content, building vocabulary. and preparing for writing. It also helps to develop confidence and fluency in expressing ideas, which is essential for academic success and future employability. We embed oracy into our teaching and learning through a range of structured and inclusive strategies.

• Regular ‘debate lessons’ take place in some subjects and all teachers look for opportunities to promote discussions and debate where appropriate.
• We prioritise the development of questioning techniques with our staff, avoiding the use of ‘hands-up’ to help all students make verbal contributions in lessons.
• We use a range of collaborative learning strategies such as ‘Heads together’ and ‘Ranking Exercises’ to promote purposeful talk in lessons.
• We use talk to support writing, helping students to rehearse ideas, clarify their thinking, and develop vocabulary before they begin written tasks.
• We provide opportunities for students to practise their oracy skills through processes such as our ‘Thoughts for the Week’ programme.

Additional Targeted Intervention

We support all students to develop excellent literacy skills through our carefully designed curriculum and focus on high-quality teaching. This reflects our ethos of prioritising ‘keep-up’ rather than ‘catch-up’, ensuring every student has the strong foundations needed to access the curriculum and for later life.

We work hard to prevent gaps from emerging, but where they do occur, we act quickly to address these. Where students require additional support with literacy, we make use of a range of targeted interventions to ensure all students can access the full curriculum and gain the wider benefits that excellent literacy skills provide.

• Our pathways structure places students in the appropriate group(s) where they can best achieve their full potential. Where appropriate, some students will be placed in smaller teaching groups where they can access additional literacy support.
• A range of tiered reading interventions provide students with additional support to help develop their reading skills. This includes a focus on securing phonics awareness and fluent reading through one-to-one and small-group interventions.
• We provide targeted speech and language support from staff fully trained with ELKLAN.