School improvement priorities no.1 - secondary

When I’m talking with colleagues about what their priorities are, they generally fall into three broad strands.

Now I’m a statistic of one, so it might not be an accurate picture, however the first that colleagues say they are keen to improve is this:

Developing literacy, including across the curriculum

When we dig into why this is a priority, there tend to be two main reasons:

1. Wanting all pupils to be able to read, understand and talk about stories, novels, poems and non-fiction and to create their own

2. Knowing it’s important for pupils to access subjects across the curriculum, and realising that to do this, pupils need to be supported to understand the technical, tier 3 vocabulary, and texts of greater lexical depth and complexity

It’s a tall order

Fortunately, there are some strategies that are having impact.

The one I believe is most promising is the ‘Just reading’ research from the University of Sussex.

The results are impressive: 8.5 months progress in reading comprehension, with a surprising 16 months progress for pupils identified as ‘poorer’ readers.

Schools trialling this have found similar impressive results.

If improving literacy is a priority in your context, it’s worth checking out how Rob Grover and Ritchie Slack trialled it at Nene Park Academy, free to access here.