Our Literacy Provision

At LS-TEN, we are committed to providing a comprehensive literacy programme designed to equip our students with the essential skills they need to thrive academically and personally. Our literacy offer encompasses a whole-school approach, alongside specific provisions within the English curriculum.

Our whole-school offer includes regular reading age assessments for all students in Years 7 to 11, conducted twice annually. The data gathered from these assessments is shared with all teaching staff to enhance quality first teaching. All students also access guided reading lessons, ensuring focused support for their reading development. We have adopted agreed disciplinary literacy strategies, enabling students to think, read, write, and speak like experts in their respective subjects.

Marking for literacy is approached uniformly across the school, focusing on key areas such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and paragraph usage in assessed PINS work. Additionally, we have established 'Reading Stops' throughout the school, featuring shelves of curated books, including dyslexia-friendly and reluctant reader selections, to encourage students to read for pleasure and relaxation. Our ‘Word of the Week’ initiative introduces a new Tier 2 word each week, with students rewarded for integrating these terms meaningfully into their conversations.

Within the English curriculum, we provide exposure to high-quality texts from diverse genres and employ a literacy-focused pedagogy that includes explicit grammar instruction and oracy strategies. We also offer tailored in-class support for weaker readers, including small class sizes and teaching assistant support. Furthermore, we facilitate timetabled literacy sessions with our skilled educators, integrating the All Aboard phonics programme to bolster reading skills.

To support our bilingual learners, we conduct bespoke EAL intervention sessions using Flash Academy resources, led by our Literacy & EAL Lead, ensuring that every student receives the assistance they require to succeed. Our aim is to foster a love for reading and a strong foundation in literacy for every learner at LS-TEN.