WORD - Writing, Oracy and Reading Development Introduction

At Harris Academy Beckenham we are proud to have launched a brand new approach to literacy across the curriculum, called WORD (Writing, Oracy and Reading Development).

WORD skills are crucial to developing students’ ability to read and understand, write with fluency, accuracy and enthusiasm, and speak and listen with confidence and discernment.

Developing skills in literacy is about learning to use language to express, explore and communicate our thoughts, ideas and feelings with others. We do this through speaking, listening, reading and writing, and getting better at literacy means making progress in each of these areas. 

We owe it to our students to give them the very best literacy skills in order to improve their chances in life, and to enable them to succeed in whatever path they choose.

WORD POLICY

We adopt a cross-curricular focus to promoting good literacy amongst our pupils and staff. We believe that promoting literacy is a whole academy responsibility and not just that of the English department. We also invite you to join us in developing your son’s literacy at home.   

Reading and literacy skills are the key to learning and pleasure. They open doors and allow our students to access all aspects of the curriculum, whilst improving oracy, communication and problem-solving skills.

All subject areas

Attainment of proficient communication capacity skills is vital for students to access all areas of the curriculum, and to achieve social and academic success.

Due to the vital role of WORD skills in every student’s life, staff at all levels are aware of their duty to prioritise WORD within all areas of teaching and learning. We aim:

• To ensure that standards of writing, oracy and reading are raised throughout all key stages and across all subject areas
• To embed WORD skills across all subject areas
• To develop a common language of communication capability across all subject areas
• To empower students with the capacity to use language purposefully and efficiently in a range of contexts for a range of purposes, in both oral and written form, in a powerful, convincing and accurate manner
• To increase the range and depth of literary knowledge to create a lifelong passion for reading and curiosity of texts.
• Our curriculum pivots on WORD with every teacher dedicated to raising the levels of eloquent, accurate and confident communication of every student, regardless of their starting point.

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Senior Staff Developing Future Readers

Every member of the senior leadership team reads with students in tutor group time to emphasise the importance of reading and help promote literacy across the Academy.

 “That is why we’ve started a system where the senior team, including me, goes into tutor groups regularly to read with the students for 20 minutes.”- Ciara Warnock - Principal.

Ms Castro - Assistant Principal, reading with students.