Literacy and Numeracy Sessions
Currently, selected students from Year 7, 8 and 9 are part of Literacy and/or Numeracy sessions.
Students in Year 7 and 8 are able to graduate out when they have gained and consistently demonstrate the necessary skills.
Some Year 9 students have the option to select these subjects for the year before their final exam selections take place.
Literacy
The main focus for Literacy sessions is reading. We work through fluency and comprehension skills with the aim to improve the reading age of all students. Vocabulary, retrieval, inference, summarising and prediction are the core skills we look at within the sessions. These skills are transferable so can be applied to all subjects supporting development across the curriculum. Students will need to read 200 words per minute fluently to access the GCSE curriculum so this highlights the importance of embedding these skills.
Students in Year 7 and 8 have two lessons a week. One is a literacy lesson and the other has a history focus. The content of these history lessons replicates that of the whole school curriculum so students have access to all content.
Students in Year 9 have 2 Literacy lessons a week that are dedicated to reading and analysing a text.
We use Literacy Planet, an online platform that reviews comprehension, spelling and grammar strands. All Year 7 and 8 students have access to this in tutor time and Literacy students are expected to complete missions on this for their extending learning.
Assessment takes place in many forms.
- Year 7 complete a KS2 SATs reading assessment, an NGRT and regular STAR reading assessments on the accelerated reading website.
- Year 8 complete a Level 1 functional skills reading paper, an NGRT and regular STAR reading assessments.
- Year 9 currently complete a level 1 functional skills reading and writing assessment, an NGRT and STAR reading assessments.
Literacy curriculum overview
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Literacy |
History |
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Year 7 |
KS2 reading skills Word meaning Fact retrieval Summarising Inference Prediction
Students focus on one skill per week. This is based on using each skill within sentences or very short passages.
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Year 8 |
KS2 reading skills Students follow ‘Complete Comprehension’ scheme which allows them to apply their reading comprehension skills to extracts.
The extracts aim to inspire a love of reading, engages students in a variety of texts and include cross curricular links. |
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Year 9 |
In year 9 students study a range of books.
These have been carefully designed to assess understanding and analyse literacy devices.
The texts selected currently include Stone Cold, Holes, Wonder and Skellig. These are continually reviewed to cover current topics and engaging material. |
No History is covered in Year 9 as students access their timetabled lesson.
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Numeracy
The main focus for Numeracy sessions are the development and refinement of students' arithmetic skills and times table recall. Having an in-depth understanding of the four operations allows students to transfer these skills to solve more complex problems. We also focus on fluency within the times tables, these are fundamental to learning as they underpin all mathematical concepts.
A typical lesson uses 'Times Table Rockstars’ to improve fluency and reviews basic calculation aspects. Elements of the KS2 curriculum are then taught using MyMaths online lessons. Students are able to complete a task on the online system which provides them with instant feedback and provides comprehensive data tracking.
Assessment is focused on arithmetic skills in particular place value, basic number facts and calculation.
- Year 7 students complete a condensed arithmetic paper which they complete as a baseline assessment when they join the school. This allows us to monitor progress and provides a direct comparison.
- Year 8 students complete a condensed arithmetic paper where the focus is place value and arithmetic.
- Year 9 students complete a full arithmetic and reasoning paper so we can see how they apply their numeracy skills.
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Year 7 |
Lower KS2 curriculum |
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Year 8 |
Upper KS2 curriculum |
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Year 9 |
Upper KS2 curriculum |
Both Literacy and Numeracy sessions are aimed to develop key skills to support learning across the curriculum and improve the confidence of all students.