Literacy

Literacy Across the Curriculum

At The de Ferrers Academy, every teacher, regardless of subject specialism, is a teacher of literacy and has a responsibility to improve students’ literacy skills in the following areas:

Oracy (spoken language)

Reading for learning (Read to Achieve)

Reading for pleasure and wider reading (Love to Read)

Writing for a range of purposes and audiences

Building vocabulary

Our literacy provision is designed to inspire a love of reading, develop confident communicators and ensure every student can access the curriculum fully. We recognise the interconnectedness of literacy skills and their impact on students’ personal and academic development. Strong oral communication skills underpin and help to develop proficient reading and writing, while those skills, in turn, enhance students’ ability to communicate verbally.

We are developing the delivery of Disciplinary Literacy across the curriculum. Students are explicitly taught the unique approaches to be used when reading, writing, speaking and listening within each subject area. This approach helps students to access challenging texts, express their ideas effectively and become independent learners in every area of the curriculum

Reading Strategy

The de Ferrers Academy recognises that reading is a basic life skill which forms a fundamental part of our curriculum in line with National Curriculum guidance. In order to provide equitable access to the curriculum, we strive to provide targeted additional reading and reading recovery provision where students have fallen short of age-related expectations.

Key Literacy Strategies at The de Ferrers Academy:

Fresh Start Programme

For students who need additional support with decoding and phonics, we deliver the Fresh Start Phonics programme. This structured intervention helps students build their reading fluency and comprehension skills, enabling them to make rapid progress and grow in confidence as readers.

Shared Reading Interventions

We use shared reading interventions and 1:1 reading support where required, helping students develop fluency and confidence in a supportive setting.

Sparx Reader

All students have access to Sparx Reader, a powerful platform that personalises reading recommendations and motivates students to read widely both in and out of school.

Active Tutor Time Reading

Students engage in Active Reading sessions three times a week during tutor time, fostering consistent reading habits and giving them opportunities to enjoy a variety of texts.

Weekly Reciprocal Reading Lessons

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum, so all students in years 7 and 8 take part in weekly reading lessons, designed to develop vocabulary, comprehension and a love of books.

Reading for Pleasure

We have libraries on all three sites. Each of these are welcoming spaces that promote reading for pleasure. With a wide range of books, magazines and digital resources, they encourage students to develop a lifelong love of reading.

Formative and Summative Assessment

To ensure we understand each child’s literacy needs, we use:

GL Assessments and NGRT (New Group Reading Test) to track reading ages and monitor progress.

Ongoing assessment for learning strategies to adapt teaching and provide tailored support where it is needed most.