Heathside Preparatory School
Literacy Policy 2014-2015
DRAFT
Document 1 – Literacy Policy
Appendix A – Reading
Appendix B – Spelling
Appendix C - Handwriting
Composed by: Andrew-John Paterson
Heathside Literacy Policy
Document 1
Introduction Literacy unites the important skills of reading, writing and speaking and listening. ‘Good oral work enhances pupils’ understanding of language in both oral and written forms and of the
way language can be used to communicate. It is also an important part of the process, through which
pupils read and compose texts’
NLS Framework for teaching - DFES.
Aims and Objectives of the Literacy Policy
At Heathside we follow the renewed Literacy Framework and always work toward the target of
personalising learning as expressed by the Rose Report. We identify and tackle the most appropriate
objectives our children need to learn effectively and meaningfully.
At Heathside we value the high quality and level of vocabulary that our pupils use to express
themselves, reflected both in their conversation and in their writing.
Our Learning Objectives are aligned to the 12 strands of learning and incorporate speaking and
listening.
These strands link directly to the Early Learning Goals and aspects of English in the National
Curriculum. The organisation of the objectives into these 12 strands supports the assessment focuses
for reading and writing used in National Curriculum assessments. The objectives are taught through the
full range of texts described in the National Curriculum for English.
The twelve strands are as follows:
□ Speak, listen and respond within a wide range of purposes in different contexts.
□ Group discussion and interaction.
□ Drama and Role-Play.
□ Read and write for a range of purposes on paper and on screen.
□ Word recognition: decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling).
□ Word structure.
□ Understanding and interpreting texts.
□ Engaging and responding to texts.
□ Creating and shaping texts.
□ Text structure and organization.
□ Sentence structure and punctuation.
□ Presentation.
Aims of our Writing Policy
The school aims to develop literate pupils who:
□ Write with confidence and fluency, organising the content and style of what is written to suit the
purpose and readership.
□ Use spelling, punctuation and syntax appropriately and with confidence.
□ Have an interest in words and their meaning.
□ Understand a range of text types and genres and develop confidence in reading.
□ Develop a legible, joined-up handwriting style and to be able to use word processing skills.
We teach writing through a combination of approaches:
□ Whole class shared writing.
□ Guided writing in groups with the teacher.
□ Partner and small group cooperative writing.
□ Supported writing in groups with TAs.
□ Working with response partners.
□ Independent writing activities and creative environments and experiences for writing.
□ Writing through homework with parental supervision.
□ Using well-known writers as role models for writing.
Planning
Long-term Planning
A cross-curricular approach to planning has been adopted and teachers ensure that pupils have a
balance of fiction, poetry and non-fiction. This may be through topic-based work or through discrete
literacy lessons. A Literacy Lesson no longer needs to follow the expectations of the Literacy Hour
however it can be drawn upon for sound and effective elements of structure.
Medium-term planning for Whole class 1st Quality Teaching
□ Planning identifies key writing objectives as learning intentions linked to the ability of the children.
□ Links reading, writing and speaking and listening objectives.
□ Identifies links with other curriculum areas.
□ Provides a termly assessment focus.
□ Identifies opportunities for extended writing.
Short-term planning
□ Identifies word, sentence and text level objectives.
□ Identifies opportunities for whole class teaching of writing through shared writing.
□ Identifies opportunities for whole class teaching of word and sentence level.
□ Plans for teacher guided and independent activities that link to the whole class teaching.
□ Can include a space for brief notes for future planning.
□ Plans use of additional adults and identifies SEN and Low ability support.
□ Differentiates Key Questions and Independent work so that all members of the class have access to
the lesson.
□ Ensures that key questions seek low-level direct response and deeper abstract thinking.
□ Makes use of Interactive ICT media to engage attention and reinforce a significant teaching point.
Whole class planning addresses specific needs e.g.:
□ Writing that will interest reluctant boys and girls.
□ Differentiated questioning to challenge low ability through to gifted and talented pupils.
□ Planning that draws upon different cultural experiences.
□ Targeted support is provided for specific underachieving groups.
Texts are chosen to:
□ Engage reluctant readers.
□ Reflect a multi-cultural society.
□ Provide positive role-models from an inclusive society.
□ Inspire interest and self-motivated reading.
Early Years Foundation Stage
Throughout the teaching day practitioners:
□ Value talk and alternative forms of communication such as body language, gesture, emergent
speech etc.
□ Observe children and plan for the context in which they best develop their speaking and listening and
their understanding of reading and writing.
□ Help children to develop language for communication through interaction and communication.
□ Model the use of language as a tool for thinking and use practical and explorative activities that make
use of the children’s own experience and new learning and interests.
□ Demonstrate the use of language for writing.
Teaching writing KS1/2
□ From the last term of reception onwards children will experience a daily literacy lesson.
□ Beyond the literacy lesson children are expected to apply their writing skills in other curriculum areas.
Shared writing
□ Shared reading texts are used as a model for shared writing.
□ Shared writing is used to model the writing objective.
□ Teachers aim for a balance of shared reading and writing sessions across a Unit of Planning.
Guided writing
□ Pupils are grouped according to their writing ability often with abilities slightly mixed to provide models
at a target stage just above another participant.
□ Teachers expect to work with each guided group in KS1 and KS2, once a week, within the Literacy
lesson.
□ Teachers focus the guided writing sessions on specific objectives and monitor progress.
Supported writing
□ Teaching assistants provide additional support to ability groups or individuals to reinforce teacher input
from guided sessions, in and out of the classroom, as required.
Independent Writing
□ Pupils reinforce and develop their knowledge and understanding of the purposes and text types of
writing.
□ Pupils develop and reinforce their skills through ‘having a go’ and building resilience to self-criticism.
Drama, Role-Play and Writing
□ Drama techniques will be used as a stimulus for writing. These will include role–play, improvisation
and group performance to enable pupils to create and develop their own writing through:
□ Exploring familiar themes and characters.
□ Responding in role to create stories.
□ Empathising with characters and situations.
□ Considering alternative courses of action.
□ Adapting writing for different purposes and audiences.
□ Using performance to reinforce understanding of the structure of text types.
□ Performance of specific learning groups is monitored.
Assessment and Recording
Writing
□ Ongoing assessments of individual writing behaviours during the session or day.
□ Immediate praise and simple targets given to motivate and give direct positive feedback and goals to
the individual pupil.
□ Peer assessment and assistance given to help motivate and give direct positive feedback and goals to
the individual pupil.
□ Ongoing assessments using stepping stones, early learning goals, NLS objectives, APP’s.
□ Termly assessment of independent writing from a sample of children across the ability range and
termly assessment of all children recorded in Special Books and School Tracking.
□ End of Early Years Foundation Stage profile assessment.
□ Ongoing assessments during guided writing sessions using group writing targets linked to level
descriptors.
□ Half-termly targets are set for each individual writer.
Aims of our Reading Policy (See Appendix A)
□ Read with confidence, fluency and understanding, using a range of independent strategies to self
monitor and correct.
□ Teaching Progressive Phonics and visual sight words on a daily basis.
□ Have an interest in a wide range of texts and read for enjoyment and information.
□ Have an interest in words and their meaning.
□ Understand a range of text types and genres.
□ Evaluate and justify their preferences and opinions verbally and through written review.
□ Develop powers of imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness.
The school teaches reading through a combination of approaches:
□ Whole class shared reading.
□ Listening to books together in story-time.
□ Guided reading in groups with the teacher, TA and parents.
□ Individual supported reading in groups with TAs.
□ Paired reading with peers or older children – Reading Buddies.
□ Independent reading time at school and home reading monitored by a home-school reading record.
□ Targeted SEN and Low Ability pupils, booster groups receiving appropriate programmes of support.
Information and communication technology (ICT)
ICT is used across the curriculum to support and develop literacy:
□ Alphablocks in the Early Years for Phonics.
□ Microsoft Word and its associated spelling and grammar checker, dictionary and thesaurus.
□ Microsoft Desktop Publisher and PowerPoint for Display.
□ Online internet search engines for information and other online sites such as Wikipedia.
□ Online Internet Sites such as BBC Schools, ICT Games, Woodlands Junior etc.
□ School Website for publishing.
Monitoring and Evaluation by Senior Management and Subject Leaders
The Senior Leaders and class teachers will:
□ Analyse end of key stage assessments.
□ Foundation profile, KS1 assessments and KS2 results, annually.
□ Target Tracker for performance statistics.
□ Progress against writing targets is reviewed termly by looking at pieces of the children’s unaided
writing.
□ Book Looks.
□ Planning for writing is amended according to identified areas of weakness.
□ Learning Walks.
□ Pupil Voice and surveys.
□ Progress in intervention programmes are monitored at specific weeks within the programme.
□ Targeted support provided to specific groups linked to analysis of performance data e.g. EAL pupils,
gender groups.
□ Co–ordinator monitors medium and short-term planning termly Intervention programmes.
□ For children who are not making the expected progress, intervention programmes are used to help
pupils ‘close the gap ’ with their peers.
□ BOOSTER Literacy groups from KS1.
The Learning Environment and Display
We believe that a child will learn more effectively if the environment they are in is stimulating, inspiring
and most importantly inviting.
Displays of objects, models, pictures and posters will stimulate ideas. Whenever an opportunity is
available, children’s work will be displayed in the classroom and around the school. Labels should
model the letter styles learned in Reception and year 1 and the joined-up handwriting scheme learned
by Year 1 from term 2 and 3 through to year 6 - see Appendix B.
Within the Classroom, all children will have ready access to writing frames/models, dictionaries/phonetic
dictionaries and thesaurus, topic-related word banks and high-frequency words outlined in ‘Letters and
Sounds’.
Handwriting – (Please see Appendix B)
1. To instill within all pupils a legible style of handwriting
2. To ensure size and shape of letters is consistent.
3. To develop a flow of movement that is fluent and smooth
4. To encourage a consistent personal style established by Year 6
5. To raise a student’s self motivation and esteem through the establishment of current best handwriting
practice.
6. To establish and maintain a high profile of handwriting and presentation skills.
7. To practice handwriting in conjunction with spelling, inspired by Cripp’s ‘A Hand for Spelling’ and the
graduated strategies outlined in ‘Letters and Sounds’ (DFES)
Approaches to Spelling – (Please see Appendix C)
Phonics are taught daily in Reception and Year 1 following ‘Letters and Sounds’ and using The
Alphablocks phonics programme. All Reception children are provided with opportunities that encourage
and celebrate emergent writing. Children will participate in both shared and guided writing sessions led
by the class teacher. Opportunities for independent and extended writing will also be provided linked to
the Renewed Primary Framework units. We follow the handwriting formation as shown in the ‘Letters
and Sounds’ document.
Letters and Sounds
Letters and Sounds is a focused teaching strategy that teaches children how the alphabet works for
reading and spelling. Letters and Sounds are taught through 6 phases.
Phase 1 supports the development of speaking and listening.
Phase 2-5 is a systematic approach to phonics teaching and word recognition skills.
Phase 6- focuses on word-specific spellings and the rules for spelling alternatives.
Letters and Sounds are taught as a discrete 20 minute session each day. Each lesson follows the
structure of review, teach, practise and apply.
Phases 1-3 - Year 1.
Phases 3-5 - Year 2.
Phases 4-6 - Year 3.
Phases 5-6 - Year 4 upward.
Please note that phases 5 to 6 should continue to be re-visited throughout year 5 and 6.