At Birkdale we recognise the centrality of developing students’ vocabulary to support them with their reading, oracy skills and access to our curriculum.

All students in years 7 and 8 have access to the online vocabulary development platform Bedrock. This platform is responsive to students’ level of word knowledge and targets them with words to further expand their vocabulary. The main focus is on developing tier two vocabulary as an improved grasp of these words can allow students to engage with concepts more effectively and support in developing well connected schemas. This platform is used in the fortnightly library lesson as well as for independent learning. We reward and celebrate students who engage with this platform successfully.

In years 7 and 8 students are explicitly taught and assessed on carefully chosen tier two vocabulary choices from all areas of the curriculum. This ensures that students are developing a robust use of these words to ensure they can use them flexibly in multiple contexts.