Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong have been working with Literacy Tree since August 2023. Having trialed Robot Girl in Year 5 and Iron Man in Year 4 during previous academic year, we were delighted to introduce the scheme the whole Junior School. We have been thrilled with the engagement and impact the whole book approach has had in inspiring writing and promoting reading across all year groups, especially in Year 6.
From writing diary entries inspired by Benjamin Zephaniah’s novel Windrush Child and performing John Agard’s poem Windrush to creating dystopian narratives inspired by Piers Torday’s The Last Wild, our students have been submerged in an array of different text types and genres. The richness of the scheme’s texts has inspired both staff and students, with many reaching for the next in the trilogy or seeking similar texts to read for pleasure. Most notably, The Strange Tale of Origami Yoda took Year 5 by a storm, with our Year 5 teachers sporting 3D origami costumes for World Book Week, much to the delight of our students.
The structure of Literacy Tree allows it to be adapted for our pupils and the Inquiry units at our school. For example, the Year 5 theme of ‘exploration’ lent itself perfectly to explore Shackleton and Hidden Figures whilst Micheal Rosen’s Stories of Migration was perfect for the Year 6 theme of ‘Migration’. The ambitious nature of the schemes has also allowed us to extendand stretch pupils, whilst allowing us to adapt for the needs of all. Furthermore, the wide range of high-quality texts provide choice and options for us to select texts best suited to our curriculum, ensuring cross curricular coverage.
Despite still being in the early stages of our Literacy Tree journey, we are most impressed with the attitude shift from students; many students’ note English as one of their favourite lessons and look forward to writing and reading the high-quality texts. Our teachers have also created wonderful displays inspired by the texts. The nature of the short, long, and extended writes has also developed our students’ writing stamina as they are provided with more writing opportunities.
Molly Morris, Head of English
May 2024
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