Literacy at MACS
Loving Learning, Leading in Literacy at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School
Pupils at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School are striving forward by developing their literacy skills and their love of reading.
Recently, Year 7 pupils undertook the challenge of Readathon, the UK’s biggest national sponsored reading event which in the last 25 years has raised nearly £22 million for children and young people with serious illnesses.
Pupils were encouraged through their form periods and their English lessons to read as many books as they could in exchange for pledges of money. They thoroughly enjoyed the event with just under £200 being raised for the Roald Dahl Foundation and CLIC Sargent appeals. Mr Powell’s form 7T really rose to the challenge and raised the most amount of money for the appeal!
The English department actively encourages reading for pleasure with students selecting topical books that suit their own interests. Mrs Winters feels that ‘with the funding from the basic skills agency, our students have benefitted immensely from the selection of books on offer, and these range from movie board books to the traditional fiction best sellers’. Mr Rees (Head of English) also commented that “Readathon has supported our current schemes of work and has given our pupils the challenge factor to boost their love of books.”
In addition to the Readathon challenge, Year 7 students at MACS are being given an extra advantage when it comes to boosting their literacy levels. They are following in form periods, literacy sessions where they concentrate on specific skills that boost all of their subjects across the curriculum. Mrs Winters (Literacy Co-ordinator) has capitalised on the positive atmosphere that Readathon has generated and devised a focused in house reading bronze award that our students love participating in. They follow every Tuesday morning with form tutors, a guided reading session where they select their own books and complete mini challenges!
As a school, Mountain Ash Comprehensive is looking to the future and is continuously developing new ways to secure the foundations for our pupils. “ It is vitally important that children learn to love books and reading. The school is involved in ground breaking work, and Readathon was a great opportunity to celebrate the love of literature.” Huw Lloyd, Headteacher.
Here are a number of documents that we have created to ‘help’ the students at Mountain Ash Comprehensive School.
Literacy Overview (Autumn Term)
