Our Strategy
At Budmouth Academy we are acutely aware of the need for students to possess effective literacy and oracy skills, and thus have a relentless focus on improving these skills so that every student is supported to achieve the highest possible outcomes, regardless of their socio-economic background.
Our Aims
- To expose students to a wide range of challenging texts to increase cultural capital and support curriculum learning.
- To improve students’ literacy skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing and expand their vocabulary repertoire.
- To ensure students can access the curriculum in all subject areas and improve life chances.
- To foster engagement with reading and promote reading for pleasure.
- To develop students’ self-confidence and metacognitive abilities through the physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social and emotional aspects of oracy.
- For all students to leave the academy as literate, confident communicators ready for their next steps.
- All subject teachers have a crucial role to play in developing students’ academic and formal language, whether through modelling in conversations with each other, facilitating class discussions or through explicit teaching of tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary in lessons.
Curriculum and Teaching & Learning
Through our carefully sequenced curriculum overviews, tutors and subjects have a half termly focus on tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary that is planned and interleaved through lesson delivery by making use of the ‘Aspirations Oracy Framework’ and our ‘Literacy Super 7’ techniques.
Disciplinary literacy is defined as ‘an approach to improving literacy across the curriculum that emphasises the importance of subject-specific support’ (EEF) and therefore all teachers should be supported to understand how to teach students to read, write and communicate effectively in their subjects.
The academy literacy lead works with middle leaders to ensure that disciplinary literacy is considered and implemented within each curriculum area. In this way, each subject’s unique literacy skills are highlighted and taught to students through a variety of techniques in lessons and are carefully mapped and regularly reviewed in subject curriculum overviews.
Drop Everything and Read (DEAR)
Students in Years 7–10 follow a weekly programme that includes five 30-minute DEAR sessions. Each session follows a clear structure to maximise learning time and maintain consistency. Across the week, students read a novel or play using our ‘Literacy Super 7’ techniques, with teachers guiding regular opportunities for reflection, discussion, and deeper exploration of key themes and topics. Students read at least 3 full texts over the course of the year.
Our DEAR books are a carefully balanced mix of award-winning and research-backed choices that reflect the experiences of today’s society. The collection includes powerful stories of resilience, friendship, and identity, alongside gripping adventures of survival, courage, and discovery. Themes of injustice, community, and empathy run through many of the titles, encouraging students to think critically about the diverse world around them. Expertly guided by staff, students explore these contemporary issues while building a lasting love of reading.
Please access our year group curriculum overviews to view the selected books for this academic year.
Tutor Programme
Year 7-10 students follow a fortnightly tutor programme, which includes one literacy session called, ‘Building Brilliant Vocabulary’ by Kate Ashford. The aim is to bridge the ‘word gap’ across our academy by embedded tier 2 vocabulary. The resources include extended texts and provide opportunities for cross curricular links and discussion around Personal Development themes. It is designed to be accessible for all, but also to stretch the most able students.
Testing & Intervention
All Key Stage 3 students are tested at the start of each year. This offers a personalised experience for each student which is accessible for all and mapped against national benchmarks. It helps to quickly identify problems that will hold back a student’s progress, with customised practical classroom solutions to put in place for each student. The regular testing allows us to assess the impact of our literacy strategies and any interventions, and review or adapt them accordingly.
Students identified as significantly below age-related expectations will receive specific intervention and support, both within and outside of lessons. The Lexia literacy skills programme is used in thrice weekly sessions with KS3 students as identified by the testing data.