Vocab and Word of the Week

Explicitly Teaching Vocabulary at The Oaks Academy

At The Oaks Academy, we believe that developing an extensive vocabulary is vital in all subjects. We therefore focus on the importance of learning new vocabulary and provide targeted vocabulary instruction in every subject. Teachers deliver new vocabulary in every lesson and provide opportunities to explore and revisit those key words again throughout the year.

Reading at The Oaks Academy

The ability to read is a fundamental life skill and essential for full participation in society and the world of work. As an Academy we recognise the significant impact that secure literacy and reading skills have on the progress and outcomes of students. Reading is arguably the most crucial literacy skill, for cross-curricular success in secondary school.

At The Oaks Academy we have invested time into researching and investigating the importance of reading and the impact of this on students both in school, but also in their wider lives outside of school. Our academic literacy policy have been most heavily influenced by the following bodies of research:

  • Geoff Barton, Don’t Call It Literacy
  • Education Endowment Foundation, Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools Guidance Report, 2019.
  • National Literacy Trust
  • Ofsted Report, ‘Now the whole school is reading’: supporting struggling readers in secondary school Published 31 October 2022

Recent research by the National Literacy Trust, has revealed the following:

  • 1 in 8 disadvantaged children in the UK say that they don’t have a book of their own.
  • The longer children maintain an enjoyment of reading, the greater the benefits are in the classroom.
  • Children born into communities with the most serious literacy challenges have some of the lowest life expectancies in England.
  • Only half of children in the UK enjoy writing.
  • Children who enjoy reading and writing are happier in their lives.
  • 1 in 6 adults in the England (16.4%/7.1 million people) have very poor literacy skills.

Consequently, as an Academy we are committed to improving the literacy and reading skills of all students. Literacy and reading permeates the curriculum at The Oaks Academy, not only within the English curriculum, but across all he curriculum areas. We strive to ensure that all students have and or develop, the skills required to be able to read fluently, speak confidently and write articulately. At The Oaks Academy, we work hard to instil a love of reading in our students through a range of strategies. We encourage our students to read challenging and ambitious texts to develop their skills to achieve highly.  Staff promote a love of reading and this is improving the rhetoric around reading amongst our students. Our expectations around engagement with reading and literacy are clearly communicated with students, which supports our positive culture around reading.

As an Academy, we have six key principles which underpin our approach to reading. These are:

  1. Strategies to encourage students’ enjoyment of reading are high profile
  2. All students, including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND, know how to access challenging texts which they can read for pleasure 
  3. Professional development for staff includes opportunities for teachers to develop their understanding of teaching reading, particularly for weaker pupils 
  4. The teaching of reading permeates the curriculum - All subjects have integrated reading into their curriculum and staff are well equipped to support students with reading and decoding.
  5. Mechanisms to identify and then support weaker readers take place on entry and throughout students' time in school
  6. Reading catch-up plans are implemented which address the core areas of need. These should focus on phonics for early-stage readers.

It is important to swiftly identify those in need of extra support. To facilitate this, students complete a New Group Reading Test (NGRT) every year to ascertain their reading ability and determine a reading age. Those in need of extra support will then be further screened to determine whether they need phonics support with trained members of our phonics team, or other interventions. These strategies are outlined in our intervention plan linked below.  Reading interventions are tailored to meet the needs of students and are applied using the 3-wave model in line with the SEND Code of Practice.

Reading interventions may include, but are not limited to:

  • Lexonik - Phonics based intervention 6x per week – small group or 1:1
  • Lexia PowerUp
  • Intensive EMA intervention to support children new to the country to acquire English language.
  • Small group or Individual literacy intervention lessons
  • 1:1 or small group reading

Regular assessment of Reading Age allows for the interventions in place to be as short-lived as required.

In Key Stage 3 we aim to identify students’ reading ability and develop a love of reading. Our strategies include:

  • Testing students on entry through the NGRT testing program to evaluate reading abilities.
  • A full library induction, introducing students to the school library and teaching them how to select appropriate books.
  • Regular library visits for students in Y7-9, to support a regular habit of borrowing books.
  • Weekly reading lessons for years 7 and 8 as part of the English curriculum, allowing opportunity for students to read for pleasure, alongside their English teacher.
  • A carefully curated list of reading books, which are engaging, age appropriate and promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
  • Providing all students with a dictionary upon entry to Y7. This forms an essential piece of their equipment.
  • Placing a strong focus on reading aloud (by both teachers and students) in all curriculum areas.
  • Developing a curriculum which supports the development of academic reading and writing within the classroom, as well as the development of oracy.

At Key Stage 4 we aim to further develop students into confident, independent readers. Our strategies include:

  • Developing reading fluency through the use of reciprocal reading in all lessons.
  • Encouraging students to read challenging and ambitious texts.
  • Providing KS4 students with reading lists linked to each curriculum area, supporting. enrichment outside of the classroom and insight into the wider world.
  • Providing opportunities for students to take on the role of student librarian.

Word of the Week at The Oaks Academy

We are pleased to introduce you to ‘Word of the Week.’  This is a programme run by The Oaks Academy where our students will be challenged to develop and extend their vocabulary through learning and using a specific word each week.

‘Word of the Week’ sees students being introduced to a selected word each week through form time.  Students will be expected to learn to read the word correctly, spell it and understand its meaning.  In developing their vocabulary further, they will also be taught words of similar meaning and given examples of word use.

Each week we will link parents to the ‘Word of the Week’ along with our learning resources through twitter and the academy website to enable parents to discuss with their child.

We hope that by linking teachers, students and parents in this way that we are better equipping our young people for life-long educational success.

Each week the most recent addition to ‘Word of the Week’ will appear at the top of the list shown below.  Please follow the link to open the associated learning resources.

TLP