Literacy, Numeracy and Catch-up

Literacy and numeracy skills are the fundamental building blocks for learning at secondary school.  Without basic literacy and numeracy skills, students will struggle to engage with subjects across the curriculum.  We therefore invest significantly in our literacy and numeracy programmes. 

Literacy and Numeracy Across the Curriculum 

All teachers, regardless of subject, are teachers of literacy and numeracy.  All students complete a reading age test on entry and at key points throughout their secondary education.  Teachers use this information to support their planning and ensure that texts are accessible for all.  Teachers use a range of pedagogical approaches to support students with their spelling, punctuation and grammar.  Departments expose students to subject-specific texts and vocabulary (tier 3 vocabulary) to develop students’ mastery within each curriculum area.  Likewise, mathematical concepts and skills are taught explicitly across the curriculum, for example plotting a graph in geography or using quadrats in science. 

Students’ literacy and numeracy skills are further supported through our morning tutorial programme.  Fortnightly, students engage in a numeracy session with their tutors, which includes 10 quick questions and a problem-solving challenge.  Each week, students engage in a literacy challenge, which could include spellings and punctuation, guided reading, or identifying synonyms and antonyms.  Additionally, all students are expected to engage in silent reading once per week during tutorial time.  Our highly experienced librarian supports students in choosing an appropriately challenging book from our well-stocked library. 

Catch-up intervention 

In addition to our extensive literacy and numeracy support provision, we have utilised government funding during and post-pandemic to support targeted academic intervention using the tuition partner, My Tutor.  For an overview of catch up and pupil premium spending, please see the premium & financial information section of our website. 

This tuition has been delivered through a variety of different formats according to the context and needs of the students.  For example, during periods of school closure, students benefited from online tutoring in targeted groups of 3 or in some cases, individually.  Now that we have returned to face-to-face teaching, our tutoring programme has been incorporated within the school day during morning tutor time.  

Historically, our tutoring programme has focused on English and Maths as we know that confidence and competence in these core subjects supports knowledge acquisition across other curriculum subjects.   

For more information regarding our literacy, numeracy or catch up provision, please contact Mrs Sudds at admin@testbourne.school.