Advanced Lead Teacher Mr Godfrey started the week at Bushey Meads School by asking a key question in our Monday Magic Moment in Staff Briefing in the Main Hall: “Who is responsible for literacy in the school?”.

The answer is of course all of us. Literacy underpins all learning, whatever subject you are studying. He provided an example of how maths results in a school went up significantly year on year, not by improving the quality of maths teachers, or by getting the students to do more work, but with a focus on the literacy behind the maths questions. He explained that understanding the command words in the questions is absolutely key to getting the maths right.

After the half term holiday all teachers will be focussing on providing feedback to students about the literacy in the classwork and homework. At Bushey Meads we try to work smartly by using code marking and have a whole school approach to identifying literacy based mistakes and closing the gaps to enhance levels of progress in this key area. Our Marking and Feedback Fortnight will also be a great opportunity to spot best practice and share ideas across the staff for how we can continue to enhance this aspect of our provision.