At St. Patrick's and St. Brigid's College we recognise the importance of good literacy skills and work hard to ensure that each of our pupils develops skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening that will prepare them for their future and support them to ‘achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and God-given potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.
The ability to communicate effectively in whatever situation you find yourself and to whom ever you find yourself speaking or writing is essential for each person to participate with confidence in our society. We build these skills steadily throughout our curriculum.
Our approach to literacy is twofold:
Essential Literacy:
We have high expectations of the way pupils communicate and these are delivered through all lessons and in every encounter the pupils have with a teacher, whatever their subject. Pupils are expected to write and spell accurately, presenting work clearly and neatly – and all teachers follow a marking policy through which they will correct spellings and punctuation or grammatical errors. We also expect pupils to communicate clearly and appropriately when they are speaking.
Reading:
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”
– Harry S. Truman
As a college we aim to foster a love of learning in our pupils and we believe that one of the elements of this that can bring great personal satisfaction is a love of reading. We promote independent reading and encourage pupils to have a personal reading book with them at all times.
Writing:
Pupils are provided with different opportunities to develop their writing skills for example by writing articles and entering writing competitions.
How Can Parents/Guardians get involved?
The single most valuable thing that a parent/guardian can do to support their child’s literacy development is to read regularly with their child at home. Just 15 minutes a day of your child reading aloud to you – from a book, a newspaper – anything will develop their confidence and their reading ability.
Remember that every piece of written work for every subject needs to be accurate – don’t let your child rush their homework – and make sure that they have checked over it before they submit it.
