Vocabulary

At Wanstead we aim to improve the use of Tier 2 vocabulary through the use of ‘WOW – Word of the Week’. These are words that pupil are likely to come across in a variety of contexts and across all subjects; words such as ‘emerge’, ‘perilous’, ‘analyse’, ‘context’.  These words are not the most basic or common ways of expressing ideas, but they are familiar to mature language users as ordinary as opposed to specialised language.

Our word of the week is introduced to tutor groups at the beginning of each week. Pupils are asked to chorally repeat the word and the word class and meaning discussed.

Examples of the word being used in context are shared and pupils are asked to create their own sentences to share. They are rewarded with achievement points for the use of WOW across the school.

DEAL – Drop Everything and Listen

To support all our readers and reading for pleasure, pupils are read to by an expert reader as part of the tutor programme.  An expert reader models reading, pupils listen, follow the text. Pupils re-read, either chorally or in pairs. Pupils are given opportunities for being strategic readers by being given goals for their reading, ask and answer questions, make predictions and clarify meanings of words.

Pupils in Years 7 to 11 initially read through a compilation of short extracts, exposing them to a variety of different texts, genres and authors. Years 7 to 10 then move on to hard copy books that pupils and tutors can get invested in, discuss and share questions and interpretations of. The books are challenging texts for each year group. A sample of books read are below:

Watch one of our Year 7 tutor groups drop everything and listen, refer to WOW and use strategic reading strategies to comprehend short extracts from their reading booklet in a tutor-time morning session.

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qYsa5ZjxiVDquvll9hMB97_60noDfAml/view?usp=drive_link