Competencies are the way we assess students in Literacy for Life.

We assess 10 areas of student development, six relating to academic development and four relating to how students are growing as people. Each lesson has a competency as part of it and students work to move themselves from Emerging to Advanced. There are Entry Level, Level 1, 2 and 3 competencies which become more challenging as students progress through the Academy.

Unusually the Academy has developed a series of assessments about developing students as people as well as academically. Through this we want to create students who are:

• Happy students, who feel their school and peers support them and want to come to school.
• Healthy students, both mentally and physically.
• Successful students, ambitious for themselves and others.
• Students who have strong aspirations and feel that they are capable of achieving them.
• Students with a sense of decency, respectful of others both within and outside the Academy.
• Students with a sense of pride in their Academy, who want to be involved in all aspects of Academy life.
• Self motivated, inquisitive students, capable of independent study.
• Students who have a joy of learning and a wish to learn.
• Students who believe they can improve their skills and abilities through practice and hard work.
• Students who have strong and resilient coping mechanisms to deal with change.
• Students who are willing to take risks.
• Students who know how to stay safe outside of the Academy.

To facilitate this we have four competency strands:

• Personal Learning competencies assess how well students are able to learn, set goals, revise, concentrate and understand the skills that it takes to be a great learner.
• Personal Social is about learning about yourself, staying safe and healthy eating but also the ability to be respectful and to work well with others.
• Creativity is one of the most prized assets for any student or employee and this competency looks at developing students’ creativity in forms ranging from art to creative writing.
• Professional Development is all about considering careers for the future and looks at the world of work, how to write a CV and be a confident interviewee.

Our Literacy for Life programme consists of subjects taught through themes. A theme runs for around three weeks and has elements of all the subjects taught through it. Not every theme has the same amount of every subject as some may be more history or science focussed, but we cover the national curriculum over the year.

We break out for some discreet Mathematics where a theme would not be an appropriate setting for this.

Literacy for Life is taught in mixed ability classes with different levels of support within the classroom for students who need to be stretched or who need more help. We look to produce work of real quality with opportunities for parents to see the work produced.

The curriculum is technology rich with each student having their own device and ICT taught through all the themes. We have a balance of written work and work on the devices as we are aware that students still need to be able to write fluently and accurately.

We assess students through a series of competencies, looking at both their academic progress and their development as people, equally important tracks to ensuring a well rounded education.

The year 7, 8 and Year 9 themes cover a wide variety of exciting and engaging topics. Below you can find an overview of what we cover.