Literacy

Our Prep -2 literacy program has a strong foundation of phonics, ensuring every child develops the essential building blocks of reading and writing. Through systematic and explicit instruction, students develop essential skills in letter-sound recognition, blending, segmenting, decoding words and reading fluency to become confident independent readers.

From Years 3-6, students build on this foundation through Spelling Mastery, a research- based program that systematically teaches spelling strategies to support reading and writing development. This ensures consistency across the school, supporting every learner to become a confident and capable communicator.

Reading fluency is a key component of literacy that bridges word recognition and comprehension. It assists students to read text accurately, quickly and with appropriate expression. Fluent readers can focus on understanding the text rather than decoding individual words, which is crucial for overall reading success.

Our writing program also incorporates the VCOP and Big Write strategies. VCOP highlights the use of Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers & Punctuation. There are many activities for all ages and writing abilities to set goals and improve these areas of their writing. Students then practise their new skills ready for one of their main writing pieces – a Big Write. As the creator of this program, Ros Wilson explains, “If students can’t talk about it, then they can’t write about it”. We encourage students throughout the year to also “talk” through their big ideas in the classroom and with family members to help prepare them for their Big Write literacy sessions.

School assemblies provide a great opportunity for students to share some of their written work and learning experiences with parents and their peers.

Individual learning plans are provided for all students who require them, whilst education support staff work closely with those students who require additional support.