With the continued emphasis from Ofsted on the need to develop students’ literacy skills beyond the English classroom, the greater proportion of marks being awarded for literacy in examinations and the knowledge that employers value good literacy in their staff, literacy has become a significant focus within the school. Since the introduction of ‘Public Punctuation’ last year, students are becoming more familiar with the term and also recognise that good literacy skills are not just evidenced through accurate spelling or a perfectly punctuated piece of writing but also through their spoken language skills.

Each term, a different year group completes reading and writing activities in RAFT. Each student has their own booklet and tutors have the opportunity to encourage students to consider and hone their literacy skills outside of the English classroom.

In addition, the school holds an in-school Spelling Bee competition in the spring term for Year 7. The four winners of this competition are then given the opportunity to compete at a regional level with students from other schools in the area. In recent years, our students came a narrow second and wowed the judges with their spelling abilities. It is activities such as this that aim to show students that literacy can be enjoyable as well as useful.

Mrs Lane is the Literacy Co-ordinator for the school and can be contacted on fiona.lane@notleyhigh.com