English

• We hold the belief that raising standards of literacy is central to improving achievement throughout the curriculum areas.
• We recognise that all teachers are teachers of Literacy as we all have a crucial role to play in supporting students’ literacy development.
• Our vision is to empower all students, from the least to the most able, with a set of thinking, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills so that they have the ability to access, process and express knowledge appropriately in curriculum areas, examinations and life beyond school.
• As The National Literacy Trust state, we are teaching and supporting our students to develop “words for life”.

• Raise standards of literacy across the curriculum by teaching, modelling and providing students with the opportunity to develop the skills required for the four strands of language – listening, speaking, reading and writing.
• Encourage and promote existing literacy initiatives and events, for example, author visits, reading events and competitions, in order to develop and establish a reading culture.

Each day at secondary school is different. Your child has to be well organised and must ensure that:

• the right books are packed ready for lessons;
• homework is ready to hand in;
• games kit is packed;
• any return slips have been signed.

Some ways to help your child get organised:

• Make a BIG copy of your child’s timetable and homework timetable and pin them up in the kitchen or on the back of the front door.
• Help your child make a list of the things which have to be taken to school each day.
• Make sure your child packs their bag before going to bed and not last thing in the morning.
• Make sure your child has a buddy who is ultra-reliable with whom they can check details of homework etc.
• Get your child an A4 ringbinder and some plastic wallets. Use them for storing worksheets and handouts.
• Buy a stock of Pritt Stick. Use it to stick worksheets and handouts into exercise books.
• If your child has been absent from school, make sure that they see their teachers and find out what work has been missed.

Arrange to photocopy notes etc produced by a reliable child. If you know your child is going to be away from school, write to your Head of Year well in advance and ask for work to be set.

• Read and sign your child’s homework diary each week. Check that your child records homework in enough detail to allow them to do the work correctly and by the due date.
• It will be very unusual for no homework to be set. If your child claims to have completed work ‘in the lesson’, ask to see what they have done.
• Encourage your child to check the details of homework with another (reliable) student.
• Display your child’s homework timetable.
• Try to ensure that your child does homework on the day it is set. Ideas will be fresher in their mind – and there will be opportunities to ask for help and advice before deadlines.
• Help your child to organise their time. Three subjects a night is an hour and a half’s work – which has to be fitted in around other activities and interests. Homework is unlikely to be done well if it is left until late in the evening.
• If your child has spent a reasonable amount of time on a homework – ie, the required time plus a bit more, but has struggled or has not completed the work, write a note to the teacher explaining this.

• Try to make sure that your child has a quiet place in which to work, away from TV and other distractions.
• Try to ensure your child has somewhere flat and uncluttered to work, and storage for books and equipment.
• Make sure your child has a decent pen, with which they are comfortable and that pencils are sharp.
• A dictionary and a thesaurus, an atlas and an encyclopaedia are useful reference books to have available.
• Join your local library – and use it!

Most subject teachers will set written work for a range of purposes: notes, essays, accounts of experiments or practical work, stories, poems, answers to questions. Some teachers will provide clear guidelines about what is required and offer some support for the writing process. Other teachers may not.
Key points about writing:

• It should suit the purpose for which it is required.
• It should be organised, with a clear structure. which follows the order of events or deals with ideas in order of importance.
• Ideas should be expressed clearly and straightforwardly.
• It should be as legible and accurate as your child can make it.

The writing process:
PLAN  WRITE  REVIEW CORRECT

The most difficult part of writing is getting started. Your support will be most effective at the planning stage and later at the review stage.

Help your child to consider:

• The PURPOSE of the writing;
• HOW MUCH is required; and
• WHO the intended audience is.

A plan is simply a list of the key points put into the best order. Once the plan has been worked out, the points can be developed into short paragraphs. When this has been done you can help your child to review and correct their work.

Don’t point out every error – clear expression is the most importance aspect of writing: reading the work aloud should help your child identify parts that don’t seem clear. Discuss these and help your child to make improvements.

• Help your child to read widely and often. People who are good spellers are usually good readers.
• Go through your child’s exercise books and list all the words which have been spelled incorrectly. Help your child to write them in alphabetical order in the back of their planner. Update the list every week.
• Make a list of the basic words that your child often spells incorrectly. Pin it up over the place where your child does homework.
• Help your child keep lists of technical subject words at the back of each exercise book.
• Help your child look up unfamiliar words in a dictionary – write down their meanings in a notebook.
• Check spellings a paragraph at a time.
• Have spelling competitions with a friend and learn 10 words a week.
• Write out problem words on large pieces of paper and pin them up in the loo or bedroom.

If your child does have a spelling problem, don’t become over-concerned. There are other aspects of writing which are more important. Help your child to do everything else as well as possible!

• Break it into sounds (d-i-a-r-y).
• Break it into syllables (re-mem-ber).
• Break it into affixes (dis+satisfy).
• Use mnemonics (necessary = 1 Collar, 2 Sleeves).
• Refer to a word in the same family (muscle ~ muscular).
• Say it as it sounds (Wed-nes-day).
• Words within words (I AM ParlIAMent).
• Refer to etymology (bi + cycle = two + wheels).
• Use words which are spelled similarly (light, bright, night).
• Apply spelling rules – eg, doubling consonant for short vowel (writing, but written).
• Learn by sight (look, cover, write, check).

At secondary school your child is likely to be asked to read a much wider range of texts than at primary school. Teachers may assume that Year 7 students are able to read independently.

Some subjects will provide a textbook. This may be issued to your child at the beginning of the year and a lot of the work in the subject will be based around it. Your child will have to bring these textbooks home as they will be used for homework assignments.

In some subjects your child will use a textbook in lessons, but it will not be issued and will not be brought home. Mainstream textbooks don’t always provide support for students who find reading difficult. Textbooks are sometimes difficult to follow: the page layout may be complicated, diagrams and pictures may not always be connected with the writing, and the text may be written in a way that assumes that students have some basic subject vocabulary.

Many teachers produce their own worksheets or use commercially produced materials. Usually instructions are clear and the text is legible, but sometimes print quality may not be good or the teacher’s handwriting may be difficult to read. Your child may have to get used to the handwriting of up to ten teachers!
You can support your child’s reading at home by:

• Reading textbooks or worksheets together to ensure that your child understands instructions. You might be able to offer alternative words and phrases to help make meanings clearer.
• Reading notes copied from the board together to check that your child has copied accurately and understands.

Your child may be set research homework for projects or to support work in lessons. Some teachers may set very clear guidelines but others may simply ask children to “find out about…”. You can support your child with research by:

• Helping them to work out what they have to find out. A KWL grid may help:

• Helping them to find sources of information:
  • Libraries.
  • Reference books.
  • Other publications.
  • The internet.
• Helping them to select important information.
• Helping them present information they have found.

There are lots of things you can do to help your child to improve their reading stamina, vocabulary and general awareness of text. You could try:

• Listening to audiobooks.
• Reading magazines and newspapers.
• Watching TV with subtitles.
• Doing crossword puzzles.
• Playing word games – Boggle, Scrabble.
• Using CD-ROM encyclopaedias and the internet.
• Watching film/video tie-ins with class readers.
• Working out song lyrics.
• Planning viewing with TV listings.
• Using timetables.
• Planning leisure activities with cinema listings, bowling, skating, swimming pool information.
• Following recipes and instructions.

If your child has a problem with work you could:

• Get your child to arrange an appointment to speak to the subject teacher concerned rather than try to sort out a problem during or the end of a lesson.
• Try to help your child to work out what it is they have difficulty with and to ask the teacher for specific help.
• Make sure your child has a ‘buddy’ – someone who they trust and who is likely to be reliable. Exchange telephone numbers – call for help in emergencies!
• Get your child to talk to friends about aspects of work they don’t understand – but don’t allow copying of homework.

Write a note to the teacher about work that your child has struggled with – try to identify specific problems.

Helping Your Child with Literacy

What is literacy?

Definition
Literacy is defined as the four strands of language – listening, speaking, reading and writing. Therefore, to communicate clearly and effectively in social and academic situations, our students – your children – need to demonstrate proficient use of all four literacy skills.

Principles
We hold the belief that raising standards of literacy is central to improving achievement, not only throughout all curriculum areas at school, but in life after compulsory education. Our vision is to empower all students, from the least to the most able, with a set of thinking, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills so that they have the ability to access, process and express knowledge appropriately in increasingly complex situations. Your role as parents and carers is vital in helping your children develop “words for life”. – National Literacy Trust

PERSONAL ORGANISATION

HOMEWORK

WORKING AT HOME

WRITING

PLANNING

SPELLING

SPELLING STRATEGIES

READING

TEXTBOOKS

WORKSHEETS

RESEARCH

HELP WITH READING

PROBLEMS WITH WORK

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/english
Provides fantastic factsheets, worksheets, games and quizzes on grammar, spelling, reading, listening, writing and vocabulary. The website also provides lots of great tips on how to proofread and check over work, which you can just print out and stick up somewhere.

http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/About/FAQS.html
For some general information, news, resources and advice on the importance of literacy and what you can do at home to help.

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/

http://www.niace.org.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/

Students also have access to resources via Skooler and SAM Learning