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Literacy and Numeracy

Literacy

Our Literacy Team aim is to provide you with the literacy skills needed to progress through our school and beyond into the wider world. We focus on three core aspects of literacy, reading and spoken language.

For Literacy you will notice our active Read with Power strategies being used in your lessons  and an increased focus on explicit vocabulary teaching across all of your subjects.

To improve our spoken language skills you will be taking part in our exciting Drop Everything and Speak Days in addition to our oracy weeks. Both of these key events will allow you to improve your speaking and communication skills, allowing you to access an abundance of opportunities in your future and prepare you for the world of higher education and work. Speak to Miss Crone if you would like more information about these events. Look out for our oracy carousel of extracurricular opportunities in addition to Debate Club every Monday in room 29 from 4pm-5pm. Miss Papadimitriou would be delighted to see you there!

Finally, our reading initiative is centred around providing pupils with a broad and rich diet of reading materials. Our wonderful Librarian Mrs Rowe is on hand to support you with your reading interests and queries as well as running whole school and national competitions too.   Look out for Mrs Rowe’s weekly pupil and parent KS3, KS4 and KS5 reading recommendation via email, as well as Miss Crone’s weekly staff recommended reads email.  If you are fortunate enough to be in Year 7, you will also be able to take part in our Stellify sessions at the end of every day with a focus on our reading and literacy skills. We encourage all of our pupils to reach or exceed their chronological reading ages so that they can read for pleasure and access our full curriculum leaving school with the skills they need to succeed in their chosen path. Every teacher in our school, regardless of their subject specialism, is a teacher of literacy; literacy development is a key feature of every lesson and our staff receive extensive training in order to develop their classroom practice and support every child’s literacy needs.

Our three aspects of literacy are centred in our subject mission: “Open your eyes, open your ears, open your mind. Through reading, writing and spoken language we develop ourselves into thoughtful, reflective people ready to embark on the next phase of our journey”.

I wonder where your journey will take you…

 

Google Drive link to a Literacy and Reading Support folder for parents and pupils: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1v9hJ1Sst9Vgzuj4CAOsbnRjmc3A7bwBI?usp=sharing

 

Numeracy

Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College has a ‘can do’ approach to numeracy – we believe that all children can, and should be mathematically confident. All staff recognise the importance of providing children with a wide variety of mathematical experiences and of promoting a positive mathematics culture.

All curriculum areas teach numeracy as part of their subject content. As a result, children not only get to practice and develop their mathematical skills across all subjects, but also see the relevance of numeracy in all aspects of their education, and therefore their future. Pupils also take part in fun numeracy activities outside the classroom.

Here pupils have the opportunity to practice and develop their mathematics skills in a relaxed and informal setting. Pupils have taken part in games, challenges and puzzles involving: scale drawing; symmetry; logical processing; building; balance; measuring; converting units and sorting.

Whole School Events

There are a series of whole-college events to support Numeracy that take place throughout the year. These involve the weekly Numeracy form challenge, Maths starters in lessons,  Inter Form Competitions, World Maths Day, World Pi Day and National Numeracy Day which can be viewed by clicking here.

Upcoming Numeracy Events

We will be supporting World Maths Day and World Pi Day.

How can our Parents support with Numeracy?

Establishing a strong, consistent message between home and college is essential to support a child’s mathematical development. To foster this, the College runs a Parent Support Evening. This is to show how parents can support their children when at home.  We have produced a parent’s guide and a methods booklet to help with supporting your child with their Mathematical development.  You can download the guide by clicking here.

Numeracy Challenge

Click the here to view an example of Mrs Jackson’s ‘Form Numeracy Challenges’

Intervention

Intervention Programmes are available for all pupils who would benefit from them. Continued dialogue between the Mathematics department and the SEN department ensure pupils are identified quickly and their individual needs catered for. There are two types of programme; one designed for pupils that need to build their numeracy skills generally, and another for those pupils that need support in preparing for their exams.

Preparation for Exams Sessions

These sessions are focused on exam technique, quick number strategies, recalling information and working independently. Some pupils follow a weekly programme of sessions across the whole year, some pupils simply receive intensive support immediately prior to their exams.