International Literacy Day is celebrated every year on the 8^th of September.

Literacy can mean different things to different people but here at the Basildon Lower Academy Literacy means enabling students to gain the required skills needed to access various different types of reading materials that they may come into contact with on a daily basis.

Literacy and Reading skills are used every day by everyone. From reading the ingredients on a food packet to reading a road sign. It is all reading and being able to communicate with people on many different levels.

However, Reading and Literacy should not be seen as being predominantly just used in English lessons. For example, these skills are needed and used in Science to follow the instructions for a Science experiment, in DT lessons to know which materials and tools are needed to make things and in Maths lessons to read an equation. Therefore, Reading and Literacy is used throughout all of the subjects at the Lower Academy to enable all students to succeed in their lessons.

However, it does not stop there as on this International Literacy Day we at the Lower Academy are asking you as parents/carers to support us by engaging the children with Literacy and Reading whilst they are at home as well.

Some of the ways this could be done are:

• Asking your child to read the ingredients aloud to you that are needed to make something.
• Asking them to read aloud to you the instructions that are needed to build something.
• Asking them questions and discussing with them something they have learnt/read that day at school.

Everything around them is some form of reading and communication. Therefore, we ask that you help us to expose the students to as much reading as possible in as many different forms as we possibly can to enhance and develop their vocabulary, Reading and Literacy skills and to continue to make them successful individuals at the Academy and in the future.

Thank you once again for your continued support with this.

S.Forecast - Reading Lead