"Literacy is a set of skills, which gives an individual the ability to use written and spoken language to convey meaning. Literacy is ultimately concerned with the communication of meaning."

Literacy is an essential component of teaching and learning. All pupils need literacy to access the curriculum and to take a full part in society. Teachers in Belvoir recognise the right of all pupils to achieve their full potential and acquire high standards of literacy. We aim to ensure that every child achieves success and that all are enabled to develop their skills in accordance with their level of ability.

Literacy is a key skill both within school and as a life skill to be utilised throughout every person’s day to day experiences.

Pupils will have a positive attitude to literacy.

Through the development of literacy children will make the connections to and see the relevance of literacy to their everyday lives.

Pupils will experience a range of teaching styles and learning experiences that will promote thinking, independence and flexibility.

Pupils will develop the ability to express their ideas clearly and to discuss their work with significant others.

The children will develop confidence as "users" of language.

Pupils will develop the ability to make choices about the kinds of text they enjoy.

Pupils will develop their knowledge of and familiarity with a wide range of literature, both fiction and non-fiction.

Children will read fluently and with understanding using reading methods that are appropriate to the material and to the writing purpose.

Pupils will develop the ability to use information texts and to locate, extract and use relevant information.

Children will be able to generalise beyond English to all areas of the curriculum in order to apply and develop further their language skills.

Pupils will develop their writing skills for a range of purposes and audiences, using spelling, punctuation and syntax appropriately and with confidence.

Pupils will be able to communicate clearly and with assurance in appropriate forms of speech. They should be able to talk and listen in a variety of groupings and in both formal and informal contexts.

The Literacy Programme provides the setting in which explicit teaching can take place and within which the following four fundamental teaching contexts can sit comfortably together:

Modelled, Shared and Guided Reading.

Modelled, Shared and Guided Writing.

Relate teaching/learning activities.

Reflecting, Reporting and Recording.

Teachers will provide a balance between Modelled, Shared, Guided and Independent work. During whole class sessions teachers will provide opportunities to share text work, sentence and word level work. The whole class time provides an overall context in which subsequent teaching is embedded.

Independent and group activities will focus on the transfer of learning from one context to another. This time provides a means of directing and engaging the children’s attention to the learning objective in a clearly defined context in within which they can work productively. During independent and group sessions children will be working at their developmental level. The teacher will work with 2 to 3 groups doing guided reading or writing.

Children will be given opportunities to reflect and report upon their work.

Maintains and updates, in conjunction with the Principal, teaching staff and support staff, aims and objectives for Literacy in the school.

Acts as a source of professional advice in the implementation of the Literacy scheme, as required.

To requisition, with financial limitations, the resources needed for the implementation of the Literacy Scheme.

To organise, in conjunction with the other teachers, the library, the use of resources, monitoring their availability and usage.

To assume responsibility for drama within the school.

To devise a useful and economical method of recording pupil progress.

To monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the scheme in use.

To attend In-Service courses and to disseminate the information to all staff.

To keep abreast of educational thought in Literacy.

To liaise with outside agencies where appropriate with regard to literacy in the school.

Monitoring and evaluating will be carried out as per the Assessment Policy and regular meeting as part of INSET. Reference will be made to CCEA information on Northern Ireland targets and internal bench marking data. The information gained will be used to inform significant others to assist in future planning.

Examples of pupils work will be kept and their progress recorded as per assessment sheets for Literacy. The purpose of this is to ensure that there is correct progression and continuity in learning for all pupils. It enables staff to know where a pupil is in their learning in terms of knowledge and skills acquired. Record keeping provides evidence to support learning decisions. It assists with arrangements at the end of the year for pupil transfer both between classes and schools.

Internal and External targets will be set and reached within the context of SMART targets.

The criteria will include the following points:

End of Key Stage 1 Assessment

Teachers’ professional judgement.

Results of Standardised Tests (NFER)

Previous two years Key Stage 1 results.

Key Stage 1 results.

Teachers’ professional judgement.

Results of standardised tests (NFER)

Previous achievements of pupils at Key Stage 2.

When available, previous Key Stage 2 results.

NB. Targets will be set in accordance with the level of ability of each year group. We will strive to achieve at least the Northern Ireland average as set out by the School Improvement Document 1997. This may not always be possible due to the variance in pupils’ ability levels and other contributing factors such as are prevelant in the small school sample.

The school does not feel it appropriate to rely solely upon one scheme as it is felt that this limits our pupils’ Literacy experiences. Teacher generated Activity sheets, games, ICT software and hardware further supplement a wide range of learning resources. Resources belong to the whole school and are not the domain for one particular teacher or class. Each teacher has the necessary resources for their own class, which is stored in their own classroom. It is the policy of the school that teachers should cooperate and share equipment when necessary. It is important that resources are readily available and accessible to children.

Literacy will be used in all areas of the curriculum.

ICT should be seen as an integral part of Literacy and should be used to help enhance our pupils’ Literacy learning.

The role of ICT should be as follows:

To consolidate our pupils learning.

To further develop pupils’ Literacy skills.

To provide pupils with a variety of stimuli and teaching approaches and strategies.

To provide children with a variety of learning situations to challenge them.

To promote pupils enjoyment of Literacy.

The SEN policy applies to all areas of Literacy and the individual needs of each child must be reflected within IEPs. Differentiation and targeted teaching will be directed towards all pupils, maximising their learning potential.

Provide opportunities for parents and staff to learn together in order that the home can support the learning process in school and vice-versa. The school view parents as one of our greatest natural resources and should be nurtured as such. Parents should be involved with their children’s progress as much as possible.

Parents should be made to feel welcome to discuss their concerns about their child’s progress.

It is school policy to give written reports on pupils’ progress on one occasion during the school year. Parents are invited into school to meet with teachers to discuss progress.

Staff are available for consultation in regards to individual difficulties in Literacy as they arise.

It is also policy to provide parents with practical equipment to help reinforce pupil’s learning when necessary.

When appropriate the school will furnish parents with information on the schools methodology regarding topics, which can lead to confusion e.g. decomposition.

Used to support the learning process through the school’s homework policy. Reinforce work done in school and to allow pupils to further investigate a topic. Teachers should ensure that the pupils are given a variety of tasks, which should include both practical, written activities and in some case rote learning activities.

A monthly and yearly review will be part of our planning process.

It is a policy of the school that teachers are encouraged to continually develop their knowledge base and skills through collaboration and in-service training. Teachers are also encouraged to make use of the Internet as a form of development. The staff must be continuous learners and to model this process to encourage both the parents and the children to be life-long learners.