Literacy

Mount Sackville Secondary School

Literacy Strategy

School philosophy and Ethos:

Mount Sackville Secondary School was founded in 1864 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny.  Since its foundation, it has taken its place among the leading secondary schools in Ireland and has been synonymous with the education of young women for over 140 years.  It encourages the pursuit of excellence while offering a high standard of teaching and learning opportunities.

We are committed to respecting the individuality of each student and helping her to realise her full potential.

We encourage the pursuit of excellence and a high standard of teaching and learning opportunities is offered.
We provide opportunities for prayer and reflection and to relate to others in a Christian way.
We work to create a caring school community based on respect, integrity, honesty, and justice.

We prepare our students to take their place as self-confident, articulate young women who will meet the challenges of modern life with serenity, resilience, and courage.

Definition of literacy

The definition of literacy that we are using is the following:

“Literacy includes the capacity to read, understand and critically appreciate various forms of communication including spoken language, printed text, broadcast media, and digital media.”

Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, 2011-2020.

Vision / Rationale

In conjunction with our Mission Statement, our vision for literacy is to have high expectations for our students with regards to their literacy skills, to ensure that they can actively engage as citizens. This vision pertains to all of our students. We will endeavour to ensure that our students can:

actively and fluently read a variety of texts (fiction, non-fiction, digital media, visual texts)
ask questions about what they read
navigate the internet and make judgements about what they read online
participate fully in society
communicate confidently
use their literacy skills to access, understand, analyse and evaluate subject content
use their literacy skills to express themselves creatively
articulate their thoughts and emotions fluently and confidently
write effectively in a variety of genres
listen, interpret, understand, make judgements and respond to what they hear

Literacy is the responsibility of all the education partners in the whole school community.

Literacy Core Team

A Literacy Core Team will drive the promotion of literacy and liaise with the whole school community, including students, parents, the primary school community and educational organisations. It is the collective responsibility of the whole school community to implement the school literacy plan, as outlined in our School Improvement Plan, (SIP).

Members of the Core Team (2018/19) – Hazel Scanlon, Ger Murphy, Patrick Porter, Trudy Loftus, Jennifer Simmons, Noreen McGlinn, Claire Haran, John Gorman, Jana Elkhaward.

Aims of the Literacy Policy

This Literacy Policy aims to ensure that appropriate opportunities and procedures are in place to enable the school

to offer initiatives which increase literacy levels
To promote literacy among students across the curriculum.
To offer learning environment where each individual student can achieve high levels of literacy and are equipped for the information age
to ensure that all students in the school are given the opportunity through teaching practices and school initiatives to reach their highest possible individual literacy potential
To target groups/areas identified as having specific literacy needs
To develop teaching strategies which support literacy within each department
To develop the school as a print rich and literate environment
to promote a lifelong love of reading
to develop communication skills in each student
to equip students with the literacy skills they will need in the world outside of the school
to enable each student to be confident with language in all its forms, to be articulate, and to have the skills needed to express themselves

Targets

In line with the National Strategy for Literacy and Numeracy, our targets will aim:

to raise community awareness of the importance of oral and written language in all its forms, (including print, writing, and digital media)
to improve our attitudes to literacy
to foster an enjoyment of reading among students
to set and monitor targets of skills in literacy
to assess and evaluate teaching and learning in literacy
to inform parents / guardians about literacy skills of their children in the school
to involve parents / guardians in the literacy development of our students
to support the role of parents / guardians as the primary educators

Whole School Strategies / Initiatives

Actions and interventions to support the quality of teaching and learning in the promotion of literacy that we espouse in our school:

teacher CPD
Regular use of the library for classes
comprehension strategies
formative assessment
use of graphic organisers, mind maps
use of thesauri and dictionaries
Read Walls
Question vocabulary
SEN Literacy policy to be followed throughout the school

Initiatives to Promote Literacy

Whole school initiatives:

In School:

Reading
Accelerated Reader
Book in a Bag
Library Promotion
Fiction reading classes in the library
Recommended reading lists compiled by the librarian and given to all students
Reading attitudinal surveys
Teachers’ books on doors
Writing
Use of thesauri and dictionaries
Keywords on walls
Subject dictionaries
Speaking and Listening Activities
Poetry Corner
Debating
Digital Literacy
Digital Literacy classes in CSPE
Integration of digital literacy into teaching across the school
Implementation of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020