Developing Literacy

We are a Reading School

Melbourn Village College is a ‘Reading School’. It had been widely researched and proven that reading for pleasure allows young people to not only develop their imaginations and vocabulary but also allows them to have improved mental health due to them being able to relax and escape to other worlds. There are reading lists and reading challenge booklets on the website to help you select books to give some ideas of where to start.

Why Literacy and Reading are Important

Al Melbourn Village College we are determined to ensure that all students have the best possible life chances and choices available to them on leaving the school. In order to do this they need the best possible grades. Reading age and the ability to successfully decode texts and understand meaning and nuance is one of the single biggest indicators of success. It also can have a positive impact on behaviour for learning.  Melbourn Village College has a universal offer of a form time reading session using age appropriate challenging test in conjuction with the the Bedrock programme. 

Through engaging in these programmes, students will support the improvements of thier reading age:

• overall literacy ability including writing ability and reading related skills such as text comprehension
• attainment across the curriculum in all subjects
• higher level comprehension skills necessary for educational success
• the likelihood of completing education

Boosting Literacy and Reading for some students

Melbourn Village College supports learners whose reading age is below their chronological age through the use of the FFT Reading Quest Programme. This intervention strategy improves decoding and fluency ages and abilities. Pupils are given a test at the start of the intervention and another at the end in order to track their progress. Pupils are also supported by bespoke interventions around literacy such as individual sessions with trained teaching assistants in reading, decoding and fluency.

How we support literacy in lessons and around school

Staff use a common language when discussing vocabulary in their teaching.

We use the phrase ‘tier 1’ when describing words that are in everyday use e.g. table, road, child; ‘tier 2’ when discussing more advanced vocabulary e.g. evaluate, contradiction, phenomenon; and ‘tier 3’ when using subject-specific vocabulary e.g. oxidation, hypotenuse, pathetic fallacy.

We also try to incorporate etymology of key terms in our teaching so that students learn to break down the sections of words and build up their meaning. 

But literacy is not only abut reading and writing – we want our students to be excellent orators too – we focus on our students being able to fully express their thoughts in spoken language that is correct, expressive and expansive as well as being linguistically accurate.  When we meet people for the first time, our oracy skills are one of the factors on which a first impression is made – it is our aim for all of our students to be able to speak well and make excellent first impressions.  One of the things we encourage is the use of full phrases and sentences – for example if a question is posed in an English lesson – who killed Macbeth? The answer “Macduff” is corrected to “Macduff killed Macbeth. He was able to do this because he ‘was not of woman born’”.  We also insist on referring to staff correctly and fully, using their title and surname.  

Literacy Strategy 2025-26

‘Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world’

(National Literacy Trust - 2019)

Melbourn Village College area of development linked to School Improvement Plan: To improve the reading and literacy of all students. Senior Leadership Team accountable: Mr Luxton

Rationale for this strategy

The literacy strategy at Melbourn Village College aims to take the basic functionality of reading, writing and speaking and listening further. It aims to engender a love of reading and develop reading, writing  and oracy skills so that they can be practically applied to formal and diagnostic assessment; with the aim of improving exam outcomes alongside ensuring all students can communicate their ideas effectively to the world. The aim of Melbourn Village College is to ensure that all students reach or exceed their chronological reading age by the end of Year 10.

The literacy strategy will aim to foster a love of reading and target students who have historically found the development of their literacy and oracy skills challenging. It will develop teachers’ ability to discreetly teach and advance literacy skills, inside and outside the classroom, as well as create a culture of reading, writing and speech within the school.

Central aims

• Ensure all students are at, or above, their chronological reading ages
• Develop a love of reading across the school – through form time reading and events such as reading week
• Develop the teaching of vocabulary and tier 2 and 3 words
• Develop students’ oracy skills through in-class intervention, encouraging students to speak in full sentences and questioning that allows students the opportunity to extend answers and explain thinking
• Develop the ability of students to write accurately through vocabulary development

Measurable Outcomes

The literacy strategy aims to ensure the improvement in reading, writing and oracy skills for all students, most notably by ensuring that students reach or exceed their chronological reading age by the end of Year 10.

Within this, we also aim to have a positive impact on key sub-groups in the school. These include:

• Students with reading ages lower than their chronological age
• Students who have historically struggled with literacy or not engaged in reading
• High prior attaining students across key stages 3 and 4
• Students who have historically struggled to speak confidently
• Students who struggle to write at length