What is the Literacy Hour?

By Sean Callery

Every day your child will have literacy hour. Designed to boost her reading, writing and communication skills, here's exactly what she gets up to!

What is the literacy hour?
What is your child learning?
Tests

What is the literacy hour?
The daily literacy hour was introduced in 1998 and is part of the Government's National Literacy Strategy for improving children's ability to read, write and communicate.

It applies to all primary school children. Although what is taught varies according to a child's age and is linked to what they are learning in English, the broad aim of the hour is to ensure children improve their reading, spelling, grammar, pronunciation, writing and speaking. Children are mostly taught as a class or in small groups - rather than in one-to-one sessions with the teacher because the Government believes this does not allow time for all the pupils' needs to be met. A quarter of the hour, however, is set aside for independent reading and writing.

What is your child learning?
Your child is being taught the importance of listening and understanding what she reads and hears. She will:

read together with the other children and discuss what they have read
write essays
learn how to use reference books like dictionaries
learn how to write and join letters up
learn how to use punctuation
learn the way different kinds of writing are used for different purposes
describe what she has read to show that she has understood it
learn how to argue a case or justify a point of view
answer questions about what she has read

Tests
Although literacy is mostly linked to English, where there are set targets for the levels children should reach, the skills learnt in the literacy hour are vital for all other lessons. Children are tested on their literacy skills at the end of years 2 and 6 in national tests known as SATs.

Sean Callery is a primary school teacher and writer. He lives in Oxfordshire.