Secondary | National Literacy Trust

Secondary programmes

Our secondary programmes help students develop their literacy skills to succeed at school and in their future lives.

Literacy for Learning

Literacy for Learning is our whole-school literacy improvement programme for secondary teachers and leaders.
Learn more
Skills Academy

Support your Year 7 & 8 students with Skills Academy, our reading intervention programme that can improve their reading and get them engaged and motivated.
Learn more
Words for Work

Words for Work is the National Literacy Trust’s flagship literacy and employability programme.
Learn more
Young Poets

Young Poets gives pupils the opportunity to visit famous cultural venues in their city, using the visits to inspire poetry.
Learn more
Game Changers

Game Changers is a 20-session reading programme specifically designed for excluded students.
Learn more
Reading Champions

Our national reading campaign that supports and celebrates reading culture within schools.
Learn more

Secondary resources

Inspire and motivate pupils with our teaching resources to support and improve literacy provision at secondary school.

Resource
Secondary Literacy Research and Policy Guide 2020/21

A compilation of recent research and policy developments to support whole-school and disciplinary literacy in secondary schools

View details
Resource
Disciplinary literacy

Exploring concepts of disciplinary literacy and how to support subject-specific literacy skills.

View details
Resource
Embedding grammar teaching across the secondary curriculum

Use this presentation to support and train subject staff about how to embed grammar teaching across the secondary curriculum.

View details

See more resources

Secondary training

What is disciplinary literacy?

New to, or developing your understanding of the concept of disciplinary literacy? This course introduces the concept and explores practical classroom strategies.
Learn more
Reading for learning

Explore disciplinary reading, active reading strategies, and how to support struggling and EAL learners.
Learn more
Improving writing in secondary subjects

This professional development programme is for teachers of subjects with extended writing supported by literacy leaders.
Learn more

Explore our secondary literacy training pathways

Reading Champions Challenges

We run exciting reading challenges every term to inspire young people and help to build a reading for pleasure culture in schools, as well as developing reading stamina and increasing reading diversity.

See our current Reading Champions challenge

Related research

Research
Children and young people’s letter writing in 2021

This report outlines children and young people's letter writing attitudes in behaviours, and how they were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

View details
Research
Children and young people’s reading engagement in 2021

This report outlines children and young people's feelings about reading in early 2021, a period that coincided with the third national lockdown in the UK.

View details
Research
Children and young people’s video game playing and literacy in 2021

This report outlines findings from our Annual Literacy Survey exploring children and young people’s literacy-related interactions in relation to video games in early 2021.

View details

Literacy for Learning

Skills Academy

Words for Work

Young Poets

Game Changers

Reading Champions

What is disciplinary literacy?

Reading for learning

Improving writing in secondary subjects

Reading Champions Challenges

Become a member of the National Literacy Trust