Literacy is at the heart of all we do here at St Damian’s.  In essence, being literate is arguably the most important aspect of learning. Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum. Being literate increases opportunities for the individual in all aspects of life, it lays the foundations for lifelong learning and work. Literacy is important because we know it has the power to improve and enhance lives professionally, economically, personally and spiritually. 

 

How do we support Literacy in the Classroom?

In short, with deliberate vocabulary instruction.  All teachers will focus learning on the difficult words that pupils are likely to encounter in their lessons. To do that, staff members will look at the etymology of words and morphology of words:

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Etymology – this means the study of the origins of words and the ways in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

For example, the word levitate come from the Latin phrase ‘to rise by virtue of lightness’. Levis means light and the English translation is gravitate – when combined it becomes levitate – to float.

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Morphology – this means the study of the component parts of a word.

For example, it’s root, it’s prefix, it’s suffix.  For example, the root word 'bio' – means life and the root 'ology' means the study of. So, biology means the study of life.

 

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