We believe that literacy is central to the development of learning and that the promotion of literacy will enhance our pupils’ cultural and intellectual growth to enable an individual to achieve his or her goals, to develop his or her knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in the wider society. The ability to read, write and communicate fluently in a rapidly changing world is vital for our pupils.

We also recognise that all forms of language contribute to the development of literacy:  Talking, Listening, Reading and Writing.  The ability to use these forms of language in specific contexts will allow our pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills for learning.

As a Specialist School in ICT we also recognise that ICT will be used across the curriculum to support and develop literacy.

Media literacy is also central to pupils’ learning as The Office of Communication (Ofcom) defines it as: ‘the ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts’.

The following principles add force to our main beliefs about the development and promotion of Literacy:

• To develop pupil’s confidence as learners and users of language;
• To develop pupil’s key skills in all areas of language;
• To develop pupil’s knowledge of and familiarity with a wide range of literature both fiction and non-fiction enabling them to make choices about the  kinds of texts they enjoy;
• To develop pupil’s ability to use information texts and to locate, extract and use relevant information;
• To develop  pupil’s ability to read fluently using reading methods which are appropriate to the material and task;
• To enable pupils to generalise beyond English to all areas of the curriculum in order to apply and develop their skills;
• To develop writing skills for a range of purposes and audiences, using spelling, punctuation appropriately and with confidence;
• To enable pupils 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;
• To promote a wide use of Information and Communication Technology and Media as a medium for the further development of language both in English and across the curriculum