English

Oral Language

Oral language development is critical to children being able to read and write. We focus on research-informed approaches to developing oral language through using the resources of Tracks to Literacy: Language Express (https://www.trackstoliteracy.com/) and Preventing Literacy Difficulties (https://pld-literacy.org/).

Synthetic Phonics

We use a structured synthetic phonics approach from Kindy to Year 6, using Phonics International (https://phonicsinternational.com/) resources, to provide a consistent program supporting students to read and spell effectively. Teachers have access to year level appropriate resources to support their teaching of phonics. Decodable readers are used in the early years, at school and as home readers, to provide guided practice for students.

Science of Reading

We use research on the science of how children learn to read to inform our approach to teaching reading. Specifically, the Cognitive Foundations of Learning to Read (Tumner & Hoover, 2014) describes the key components of Word Recognition incorporating the alphabetic coding skills of letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, and knowledge of the alphabetic principle; and Language Comprehension incorporating background knowledge and inferencing skills, and linguistic knowledge of phonology, morphology, vocabulary, and syntax.

Our Early Years team have created videos on the different elements of teaching beginning readers which will support families to help their children at home: 

Boola Bardip (Library)

We have a well-resourced and engaging library for our students to enjoy and borrow books to read at school and home. Children may borrow two books at a time and their class has a time booked each week to visit the library to exchange their books. We engage in several events each year to celebrate the joy reading brings including: National Simultaneous Storytime, World Book Day, Read Aloud Day, Dr Seuss Day, Roald Dahl Day, Read A Fairytale Day, and Children's Book Week. During Book Week, celebrated Australian authors are invited to our school to share their craft with students, families are invited for 'Reading on Rugs' and the children dress up as their favourite book character for our Book Parade.

Talk 4 Writing

Talk for Writing, developed by Pie Corbett in the UK, (https://www.talk4writing.com/) enables children to imitate the key language they need for a particular topic orally before they try reading and analysing it. Through fun activities that help them rehearse the tune of the language they need, followed by shared writing to show them how to craft their writing, children are helped to write in the same style. Talk 4 Writing follows a structured routine with three main phases: Imitation, Innovation and Independent Application. Teachers implement all stages of the process, planning their units collaboratively across the year level, and assessing independent writing using Brightpath. We encourage an integrated approach to writing and reading. 

Handwriting

We explicitly teach students letter formation and handwriting using the Bat and Ball font from Kindy to Year 3. From Year 4 onwards, students are encouraged to develop a legible and neat handwriting style. The following resources will assist you with supporting children at home: