Literacy Policy

At St Patrick's, we know that good literacy skills across the school curriculum enable pupils to communicate effectively. They allow students to become more confident in their own abilities as learners and allow each child to develop their particular skills to the highest level possible. In addition to this, we are firm believers in the fundamental principle that Literacy is the key to raising standards and improving learning. We aim, through this policy, to produce literate pupils who will emerge as confident and articulate communicators. This will in turn, prepare them for the continuation of their academic studies or to enter the world of work. We understand that poor levels of literacy impact negatively on the outcome of pupils' work and on how they see themselves. Pupils with poor literacy tend to believe that they ‘cannot' learn. This policy seeks to change that.

The purpose of this policy is to:

• Ensure that language skills are developed and used across the curriculum. This will be in keeping with the National Literacy Strategy.
• Enable all pupils to reach their potential in the key literacy skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening.
• Raise staff awareness of the importance of literacy throughout the curriculum.
• Establish procedures for monitoring literacy across the curriculum.
• Help establish what the specific literacy demands are of each main subject area and ensure teachers cover these skills sufficiently in their lesson plans.

The role of the Literacy Coordinator is to:

• Raise the profile of Literacy across the whole school curriculum.
• Support departments in the implementation of the school's Literacy Policy.
• Liaise with the SENCO regarding Literacy Units and those pupils attaining below a level 4.
• Help monitor the impact of the Literacy Policy on standards of literacy across the school curriculum.