Initiatives
School Focus on Literacy and Reading
Literacy has been and continues to be, one of the school’s five main priorities, last year and this. It is also the National Strategy priority for the school.
The English department had been promoting and developing strong approaches to raising standards in literacy for a number of years. The leadership team felt that this was now the time to build on that work and really make it a whole school priority. There are no easy fixes to improving students’ literacy: the head stressed that the current successful work was building on the firm foundations laid by the English department.
The leadership team firmly believes that any initiative is only as important as you make it. For this initiative to have real impact, it was important that the leadership of the school was and is seen as giving the work priority and status. To this end, literacy foci have been built into the school’s quality assurance cycle, progress reports have been held with the direct involvement of the headteacher, and at the beginning of each half term, a staff inset session has provided support for staff in a particular aspect of literacy which has provided a focus for all staff for that half term. All lesson observations and work scrutinised: part of the whole school teaching and learning quality control systems, would relate to that held term’s literacy focus. For example, the first half of last spring half term the whole staff inset was on skimming, scanning and close reading, at the same time this year will be focussing on research, study skills and note taking.
Teaching assistants provide valuable support and are also important role models for the boys. The school has a high proportion of boys with English as an additional language. The LA EAL consultant has provided valuable training and development to enable them to support the boys and teachers.
The enthusiasm and co-operation for this initiative is evident throughout the school community. Posters, books and notices in and around the school are beginning to demonstrate that Bow Boys is a school where everyone enjoys and takes part in reading. The leadership team is keen all staff begin to share more and develop good practice co-operatively. To this end, the next half termly inset will have a session designed specifically for sharing practice, and this will continue in future sessions.
It is often said that every teacher needs to be a teacher of literacy. In Bow, a strong lead from the top, alongside staff training, and staff co-operation and involvement, is creating an environment where that is not only possible, it can also be enjoyable. Most importantly, more boys are confidently reading and enjoying reading, and standards are rising.