At Co-op Academy Belle Vue, our aim is to ensure that literacy, reading and oracy underpin our students’ school experience – both inside the classroom and beyond. We recognise that without strong foundations in literacy, students will be limited in their ability to access the curriculum. Therefore, we train our teachers frequently to ensure that they have the skills to develop reading, writing, reading and oracy skills with all students. Furthermore, we have built a curriculum and enrichment offer which has reading and literacy at its core.

Literacy is important because:

• Students of all abilities need a rich vocabulary and both accuracy and clarity of expression to access the broad and ambitious curriculum.

• Reading, writing, and speaking fluently are essential skills, which give students access to their chosen pathways beyond school and enable them to truly unlock their potential.

• Writing effectively allows students to communicate their knowledge and understanding both in school and beyond.

•  Improving literacy can have a significant impact on students’ self-esteem, motivation, and behaviour because it allows them to learn independently.

• Through a variety of oracy opportunities, students become more confident and are able to find their voice, both literally and metaphorically.

 

Oracy

At Co-op Academy Belle Vue, we provide our students with a range of opportunities to develop their oracy within the classroom and outside the classroom. 

• We explicitly teach students the skills to speak with confidence  through daily classroom routines.

•  In all subjects, we use "Turn and Talk" to give every student a low-stakes, confident space to test out new vocabulary and structure their thoughts with a peer. 

• In discussion-rich subjects such as English, RS, and History, we elevate this using the "Agree, Build, Challenge" (ABC) framework. By prompting students to agree with evidence, build on a peer’s point, or respectfully challenge an idea, we teach them how to listen actively, develop deep arguments, and disagree constructively. 

Oracy Beyond the Classroom

We believe that students’ literacy and oracy skills should be a continual focus throughout their school experience and not just something they focus on in the classroom. We have constructed a school day which ensures that literacy and oracy development opportunities are woven across the school week for all students to take part in as part of our universal offer. 

• Read Aloud: At Belle Vue, we believe that reading should be a shared, joyful experience. Through our "Read Aloud" programme in Ambition Briefing, a member of staff reads high-quality books to them, followed by a quiz to celebrate and test their comprehension. Listening to a fluent reader helps students understand complex language and enjoy stories they might not have picked up on their own, allowing them to focus entirely on the plot and vocabulary. Our students get to explore incredible, diverse stories across their school journey, including the powerful refugee story of Boy Everywhere by A.M. Dassu in Year 7, the inspiring World War II history of Safiyyah’s War by Hiba Noor Khan in Year 8, and the beautiful Jamaican mystery of When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten in Year 9.

• Community Conversations: All students are provided with a discussion prompt weekly, during lunchtime to discuss with their forms. This enables students to practice the talk structures they learn in lessons and apply them within a more informal setting to express their point of view. The topics are closely linked to their Citizenship/CARE studies. Some examples of Community Conversation prompts include: ‘Should social media companies do more to protect young people?’ ‘What makes a strong community’?

Enrichment: Literacy and Oracy 

We provide our students with the opportunity to develop their literacy and oracy skills through our enrichment programmes too. These include the following:

• Co-op Academies Trust Spelling Bee competitions 

• Co-op Academies Trust Public Speaking competitions 

• Debate Mate and Debating clubs 

• Drama enrichments 

• Young Green Briton Challenge 

• Performance Poetry 

Literacy Interventions

To help every student at Belle Vue unlock their full potential, we use a range of evidence-based literacy interventions to ensure every student is supported to catch up, keep up and accelerate their literacy development. The literacy programmes we utilise to support our students reading, literacy and oracy development are listed below:

• Fresh Start: Created by Ruth Miskin, this is a systematic synthetic phonics programme designed specifically for older students (aged 9 to 13+) who missed out on key reading foundations earlier in school. It ensures they catch up entirely so they can fully access their GCSEs and secondary education.

• Lexia: Lexia starts with a quick diagnostic test to place students at the perfect starting point. It is brilliant for individualised learning, allowing students to independently practice key reading blocks while automatically generating tailored paper-based activities for our staff to use with them if they get stuck.

• Lexonik: Rather than standard reading practice, Lexonik acts as a "speed trainer". It teaches students the "secret code" of the English language, helping even strong readers decode unfamiliar academic words in science, history, and geography, drastically improving their classroom confidence.

• Challenge 9 Oxplore:  Oxplore is an exciting digital platform developed by the University of Oxford. Known as the 'Home of Big Questions,' Oxplore encourages our students to think deeply about complex, fascinating topics that don’t have a simple right or wrong answer, such as "Could we cope without laws?" or "Are online friends better than real-life ones?" Through  debates and quizzes, these sessions challenge students to look at problems from multiple angles, combining ideas from science, history, and philosophy. It is a fantastic way for our young people to build their confidence, develop strong debating skills, and see just how capable they are of university-level thinking.