Literacy has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. At Hadrian Park high-quality education in Literacy is provided which will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils will have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, will play a key role in such development. Reading will also enable pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. Reading is at the heart of everything we do here at Hadrian Park Primary. Our staff and children understand that being a strong reader offers many opportunities and this is why it is our priority.

Oracy - Spoken Language 

• The more words we know, the easier it is to gain more new words. The more words we know, the easier it is to read: the more we read, the more words we will know. 
• Promoting vocabulary to develop a language-rich classroom culture contributes to higher reading outcomes. 
• It requires teaching vocabulary daily and giving vocabulary a high profile status within Literacy lessons and all lessons across the curriculum

Pupils’ acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the whole curriculum so we target early language and communication skills in Nursery, which provides early literacy opportunities, such as following recipes, listening, following instructions, speaking and the introduction of new vocabulary.  We also use Helicopter Stories, which is where an adult listens to a child's story, and writes it down word for word. Once all the stories have been scribed, the class gather around a taped out stage, ready to act them out. Helicopter Stories values children’s creativity and imaginative play, whilst supporting language development, storytelling and emergent literacy. We work closely with Voice 21 on providing a high quality oracy education, which empowers all pupils across all key phases.

Talk for Writing

As a Talk for Writing school, all children learn to write through Talk for Writing. We use talk for writing to stimulate and ignite the children's imagination in English. Talk for Writing was developed by the author Pie Corbett. It is a fun, creative yet also rigorous approach to develop writers. Talk for Writing starts with enjoying and sharing stories. Throughout the school, we place a strong emphasis on children reading stories and enjoying a range of literature.  It focuses on children learning the language structures of key text types through rehearsing example texts verbally, whilst also using actions and games, until the text becomes internalised. Through regular reading, we want children to build up an extensive and rich vocabulary for use in their own writing. During the initial 'imitation' stage of Talk for Writing, children learn to tell a story off by heart. They retell a text with expression and actions and make use of a story map to support their retelling. Once the story is learnt, children are encouraged to adapt it. At the 'innovation' stage, children make the story their own, for example, by changing the character or setting. Finally, at the 'invention stage, children write their own text independently.

The Key Core Values:

• Passion for purpose

• Integrity

• Openness, kindness and consideration

• Learning from each other and sharing good practice

• Providing real value for money

• Respecting teachers’ professionalism

• Accrediting other people