Literacy Links

Amanda Maria Morales, Head of Department, Literacy

Literacy is the fundamental link that connects all subjects as it enables learners to access the wider curriculum. This thought spurs the College Literacy team to strive to support schools in reaching their literacy objectives through curricular development, support in class and planning of literacy intervention programmes in collaboration with other educators. Parent meetings about various aspects of literacy learning and development are held to encourage parents to support their children at home so that learning is sustained.

In view of the recent changes in the curriculum, the College Literacy Team has been supporting Early Year educators in developing literacy within the Emergent Curriculum, through the use of stories and active learning, reflecting the learners’ interests. In fact, many educators are following the Storytelling Schools programme, which specifically focuses on these skills.

A large number of teachers have also shown a keen interest in learning how to actively teach Comprehension skills to help young readers engage with books and learn how to love reading, in particular through Guided Reading and Active Reading (Inferencing) sessions. These skills are then transferred to writing, through Journaling, and Shared and Independent writing activities. This way, oracy and reading become the blueprints for writing.

One of our main aims is to sustain educators working closely with children having specific literacy needs to identify the children’s needs and strengths through the use of diagnostic tools, such as core competence checklists and reading running records, to plan Balanced Literacy Programmes for intervention. The Reading Recovery Programme is also being offered to a number of Year 2 learners, who are struggling to develop basic reading and writing skills, in comparison to their peers, to become independent readers and writers. This programme, which is led by the University College London in collaboration with the National Literacy Agency, has been running since last scholastic year with very positive outcomes (84% national success rate for Year 2018/2019).