Vocabulary Across The Curriculum
Acquisition of vocabulary needs to underpin all reading, writing and oracy tasks, with subject specific as well as second tier vocabulary being explicitly taught so that students can absorb these into their own lexicon.
'No excuse' vocabulary
Across the curriculum, students will be taught how to utilise subject specific vocabulary through explicit vocabulary instruction and complex texts. Teachers are trained in how to ensure vocabulary becomes part of the student’s own academic dictionary and the knowledge retrieval element of our lesson pedagogy provides a platform for teachers to appropriately, space and interleave vocabulary learning across a specific unit of work.
Vocabulary is coherently planned alongside the curriculum to ensure a depth and breadth as students progress throughout the key stages – these words are taught in lesson, regularly revisited and tested, shared online so that parents can also engage with the language being learnt at home.
Bedrock Vocabulary
We recognise that in order to fully engage with the challenge expected in curriculum texts, writing and oracy, students need to master a range of second tier vocabulary. In order to ensure this and to safeguard students from the literacy consequences of deprivation, we have embedded the digital programme Bedrock Vocabulary. Second tier vocabulary is explicitly taught through fiction and non-fiction texts online and students are then expected to apply their knowledge to pieces of writing to demonstrate their learning.
Students are carefully placed at the right level, using their reading age and curriculum assessment data, which ensures all students can access the same high expectations for language acquisition. To support teacher workload and still ensure our students receive the best possible mastery teaching, key words being learnt on the programme are sent to class teachers via the platform so that learnt words can be easily revisited to support retention. Students are also tested at appropriately spaced times on the Bedrock platform to prevent words being lost and ensure all words are embedded into their own lexicon.
