Literacy and Numeracy

Literacy

Vision

Literacy and communication are a whole school focus at Orchardside with the central aim being ‘Literacy for Life’. 

We believe that the ability to read, write, speak, and listen in a way that allows for effective communication are the foundations to becoming valuable members of our global society.  Orchardside recognises the link between communication literacy and challenging behaviour and therefore use every opportunity to encourage pupils to make sense of the world around them through consistent, frequent, and effective teaching and learning of literacy.   Members of staff are now Elklan practitioners enabling the school to be more effective in their support of Speech Language and Communication Needs (SLCN).  Orchardside practitioners use the accredited programme to differentiate and embed core literacy practise within the curriculum.

We also acknowledge that many young people have unidentified speech, language, literacy, and social communication needs and so all pupils are assessed on entry.  We have a very clear process of identifying and assessing the needs of all students through specialised analysis conducted by our SEND intervention team which helps to determine the level of need and provision required by the learner. Where students are identified as being below the expected level of literacy, we work together to create a personalised learning programme with clear strategies to facilitate access to the curriculum for all.  

The below personalised learning programmes are used alongside classroom lessons to fill gaps, consolidate learning, and practice core skills thereby quickly raising the student’s ability to effectively engage in the curriculum:

• Weekly focus on Literacy through Tutor Time
• Lexia reading programme
• Catch-Up Literacy
• Language For Thinking
• Speech and Language therapy

Aims

The intent of our whole-school literacy policy is to:

• create a communication friendly environment that enriches our learners’ relationship with language
• maximise every opportunity to promote speech, language, literacy and social communication skills.
• ensure that all our staff, working with students, have the expertise to improve the literacy skills of students within their lessons. 

• develop, maintain, and improve standards of literacy across the school
• ensure consistency of practice including methods, vocabulary, and notation across the school
• create and explore areas for collaboration between subjects
• support the transfer of students’ knowledge, skills and understanding between subjects

Purpose

• To improve literacy skills of all students and thus empowering them to access the curriculum in a more effective, engaging, and dynamic manner.
• To establish and maintain high, consistent expectations across the curriculum and in turn raising standards across all subjects
• To develop student’s literacy skills, ensuring students are flexible thinkers and can apply literacy concepts to help them solve real life problems
• To support students with weak literacy skills through intervention strategies
• To develop students’ confidence and raise their self-esteem
• To prepare students for life in a communication led society by ensuring that independent literacy skills are taught, developed, and applied.

Literacy is fundamental, not only to our students personal and social development, but also to their ability to understand, evaluate, dissect, and disseminate knowledge about the world.  Through exposure to literacy and content from other cultures, we empower our pupils to function effectively in society and cultivate the tools necessary for a happy and successful life.

Numeracy

Vision

Orchardside is dedicated to raising the standards of numeracy of all of its students. We want our students to be confident and proficient in the use of numeracy to support their learning in all areas of the curriculum and to develop the skills necessary to cope successfully with the demands of further education, employment, and adult life. 

Numeracy permeates a wide range of different skills and concepts and therefore will form a fundamental part of a students’ learning. Numeracy will be strengthened and enhanced through opportunities to apply and develop numeracy skills across the curriculum (in all subjects). Poor numeracy skills hold back students’ progress and can lower their self- esteem.

All teachers and support staff have a role to play in supporting students’ progress in numeracy. Particular emphasis is placed on the application of numerical skills in real life and practical situations.

A whole school approach to developing numeracy supports the aims of the school by:

• Ensuring students are able to access the curriculum
• Ensuring that students make progress
• Ensuring students are confident and independent learners

Aims

The intent of our whole-school numeracy policy is to:

• develop, maintain, and improve standards of numeracy across the school
• ensure consistency of practice including methods, vocabulary, and notation etc. across the school
• source areas for collaboration between subjects
• support the transfer of students’ knowledge, skills and understanding between subjects

Purpose

• To improve numeracy skills of all students and thus empowering them to access the curriculum in a more effective, engaging, and dynamic manner.
• To establish and maintain high, consistent expectations across the curriculum and in turn raising standards across all subjects

• To develop student’s numeracy skills, ensuring students are flexible thinkers and can apply mathematical concepts to help them solve real life problems
• To support students with weak numeracy skills through intervention strategies
• To develop students’ confidence and raise their self-esteem
• To prepare students for life in a data led society by ensuring that independent numeracy skills are taught, developed, and applied.

For students needing support with their numerical skills, we have the following personalised learning programmes. These are used alongside math lessons to fill gaps, consolidate learning, and practice skills:

• MathsWatch
• IXL

As targeted interventions, these will raise students’ abilities to engage with math skills needed in all lessons effectively.

Numerical skills are not only essential to academic studies, but also for the ability to be successful mathematicians in everyday life skills such as budgeting, time-management, understand taxes and salaries as well as mortgages. This will empower students with the skills to operate in society effectively and empower them to lead successful lives.