Literacy in St. Aidan's
As part of our School Self-Evaluation Process and our preparation for the new Junior Cycle we surveyed all first year students, their parents and all teachers about aspects of literacy and attitudes to reading. 72 parents replied to the survey, which is a very high response rate.
Parents told us they would like their children to read more at home. They also indicated that they’d like teachers to work on improving reading, spelling and to encourage proof-reading. Analysis of the survey data helped us in the development of our School Literacy Plan. Accordingly, we have developed a number of initiatives to improve reading, spelling and proof-reading:
All first and second years have a personal spelling notebook. This is their Personal Dictionary to which they add words they encounter in the course of their studies across all subject curricula.
We are encouraging students to bring in their own reading materials, from magazines and comics to novels and non-fiction. Please support us on this initiative and encourage your child to have something they would enjoy reading in their bag. Any donations of reading materials would be most welcome.
The whole school will DEAR – Drop Everything and Read – at varying parts of the day to encourage reading for enjoyment.
Each subject area teacher is encouraged to factor into lessons time for students to proof-read their own work before handing it up. Teachers can also promote peer-assessment strategies at this time to facilitate students’ team-editing work before it is handed up for assessment.
A common correction code for all teachers and students has been devised so students are aware of the type of errors they are making. This correction code is published in the student journal.
Each subject department has published a list of commonly misspelled words from their discipline in the student journal for easy reference.
Finally, we are devising a reading programme we call “Reading Clusters” for our Transition Year students and first years.
We will keep you updated on the progress we make with these initiatives and will be in touch next year about developing numeracy at St Aidan’s
Parents told us they would like their children to read more at home. They also indicated that they’d like teachers to work on improving reading, spelling and to encourage proof-reading. Analysis of the survey data helped us in the development of our School Literacy Plan. Accordingly, we have developed a number of initiatives to improve reading, spelling and proof-reading:
All first and second years have a personal spelling notebook. This is their Personal Dictionary to which they add words they encounter in the course of their studies across all subject curricula.
We are encouraging students to bring in their own reading materials, from magazines and comics to novels and non-fiction. Please support us on this initiative and encourage your child to have something they would enjoy reading in their bag. Any donations of reading materials would be most welcome.
The whole school will DEAR – Drop Everything and Read – at varying parts of the day to encourage reading for enjoyment.
Each subject area teacher is encouraged to factor into lessons time for students to proof-read their own work before handing it up. Teachers can also promote peer-assessment strategies at this time to facilitate students’ team-editing work before it is handed up for assessment.
A common correction code for all teachers and students has been devised so students are aware of the type of errors they are making. This correction code is published in the student journal.
Each subject department has published a list of commonly misspelled words from their discipline in the student journal for easy reference.
Finally, we are devising a reading programme we call “Reading Clusters” for our Transition Year students and first years.
We will keep you updated on the progress we make with these initiatives and will be in touch next year about developing numeracy at St Aidan’s
