The journey of communication

The first two weeks of the year are now complete, and it’s been great to see students settling into the rhythm of school life again. Even more so given the change to the school day, which I have to say is probably affecting some of the staff more than the students.

One of our school priorities is to promote levels of literacy across the school community, focussing mainly on reading and vocabulary at the moment. Students will see this in action in most lessons, whether from ‘Frayer Models’ that explain key words or from different approaches to reading in class. However, we’re also keen on promoting oracy and students’ confidence when it comes to verbal communication. It’s such an important life skill and one that is often overlooked.

On Wednesday this week, all students in Years 7-10 took part in a specially planned session called ‘The Journey of Communication’. Created by the wonderful Miss Swift and delivered by almost every member of staff through form groups, these sessions challenged students to push themselves in terms of verbal communication and public speaking. I managed to visit over twenty classes that morning to see the sessions in action, and I could really get a sense of why it’s important to focus on this aspect of communication. Students took to the tasks really well, and we’re keen to build on their experiences this time next year.

My thanks to Miss Swift and the whole team for their work on this exciting new project.

Wishing you a great weekend,

Joe Barker

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