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Literacy and Oracy

Literacy plays an important role across the whole school for all staff and students. The ability to be able to communicate effectively is vital in all lessons and important to all students.

Literacy is taught as explicitly as possible with all staff taking the opportunities to highlight the correct use of literacy. This is seen through our specific literacy marking policy and through our termly focuses. Student literacy ambassadors also play an important role in helping to teach others about the importance of literacy within and outside of their lessons. Working through an award scheme these students are helping to lead on literacy improvement across the school.

Literacy support at home is just as important and in the sections below you will find some resources, created by both staff and students, that can help you to work with your child to improve their literacy.

We are also very proud of our library at Monk's Walk, where we hold a selection of both non-fiction and fiction titles to assist with learning and to inspire a joy of reading that can be taken by our students throughout their lives. In the sections below you will find details of the various tools and services available to help access our library services and see what we have to offer.

Helpful Literacy Tips

Library Catalogue

Monk's Walk uses Reading Cloud to manage it's library inventory, reservations, and to allow you to post reviews of books you have read. Full instructions for using this software is in the documents below:

Library Catalogue Page

Reading Cloud Mobile App guide for students

The mobile app can be downloaded for both Android and Apple phones:

Android App

Apple App

Recommended Academic Reading

We have compiled a list of recommended books to read if you are studying various different A Level subjects. Watch this space, we have more lists coming for other stages of your education too!

recommended subject reading

Recommended Leisure Reading

Reading for fun is important too. We've curated some lists of great titles to read in a variety of different genres, and we plan to keep adding to it!

Reading around the world

gothic fiction

modern classics

extensive recommended reading for ks5 students

cracking comedy reads

science fiction

stranger thingsbame authors

Reading Resources

We've put together some resources to help with encouraging reading during lockdown. Please view the video below and access the files to find lots of helpful advice to get your child interested in reading more.

encouraging reading

ks3 reading journal

online home reading

express yourself booklist

World Book Day

Parent Resources

Oracy at MWS

We are pleased to announce that starting from September 2021, Monk's Walk will officially be registered as a Voice 21 school. Voice 21 is a national organisation that focuses on promoting oracy in schools and by working with them, we are now one of only 3 secondary schools in Hertfordshire doing so. Oracy is the set of skills associated with speaking and listening, and at Monk's Walk, one of our goals is to enhance and develop our students' verbal communication skills as much as possible. Developing oracy skills is extremely beneficial for multiple aspects of our students' lives, so this partnership with Voice 21 is one that is very exciting for us all.

Further details will be posted here as we develop the programme.

Transition