TEACHING & LEARNING

OUR LITERACY APPROACH

At St Patrick's School we used the Structured Literacy approach. Structured Literacy is an evidence-based approach to teaching reading and writing that is highly effective for all students. This is the approach recommended by national and international experts, including the International Dyslexia Association. In a Structured Literacy classroom, all the aspects of literacy are taught in a systematic and explicit way that ensures all children can read, write and spell at an appropriate level.

Structured Literacy focuses on breaking down the complex tasks of reading and writing into clear, step-by-step skills. This method is systematic, meaning it follows a clear order; cumulative, meaning each new lesson builds on the last; explicit, meaning the teacher directly teaches each skill; and diagnostic, meaning the teacher monitors student progress and adjusts instruction as needed.

Structured Literacy is based on long-term, international research into how the brain learns to read and write. It is especially helpful for children with dyslexia and other barriers to learning, but it benefits all learners. This approach ensures that every child learns the key building blocks of reading and writing in the most efficient and effective way.

Structured Literacy instruction is based firmly within a ‘Knowledge-Rich Curriculum’. This means that as well as teaching children the technicalities of how the English language works, we also incorporate reading and writing with knowledge of the world. Science, History, Geography and other key subject areas are taught as part of Literacy instruction so that children have all the tools and information they need to understand, respond to and write all sorts of different texts.

In June 2024, Education Minister and Deputy Premier, Ben Carroll, announced that all Victorian government schools will be required to implement evidence-based Literacy teaching. This includes the use of a systematic phonics program from Foundation to Year 2 and a teaching method called explicit instruction.

At St Patrick’s, we have been meeting this requirement,and the wider recommendations of the Grattan Report The Reading Guarantee, since 2022. Guided by the best available evidence about how children learn to read, and supported by DOBCEL’s Flare Primary Literacy Strategy, we are continually adapting and improving our approach to Literacy instruction.

We have embedded a consistent and effective Structured Literacy methodology from Foundation through to Year Six. This means that every student is explicitly taught all the key elements of Literacy, including phonics, in a systematic way. This ensures that all children build the strong foundational knowledge and understandings they need to become confident and capable readers and writers.

As the Grattan Report (February 2024) explains: “A structured literacy approach to teaching reading is best. It draws on decades of research evidence, including cognitive science, by explicitly and systematically teaching students the key sub-skills needed for reading and writing.”

Our school is currently part of an intensive and strategic process, being led by the Flare Primary Literacy team at Catholic Education Ballarat and LaTrobe University. This process ensure that all our educators have the skills, knowledge and support they need to teach Literacy in a way that works for all children.

  

Little Learners Love Literacy® at St Patrick’s

At St Patrick’s, we believe that every child deserves the best start to their reading journey. As outlined above, research shows that children learn to read most effectively when literacy is taught explicitly and sequentially from the beginning of school. That’s why all of our Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms use Little Learners Love Literacy®, a fun, systematic and engaging synthetic phonics program.

Through focused lessons, games, music, puppets, crafts and drawing, children are immersed in the building blocks of reading and spelling. The program’s Seven Stages sequence means that children are never asked to read words they haven’t been taught yet, ensuring success and confidence at every step. A key feature is the use of decodable books, Australian stories children love, filled with words they can actually read.

Little Learners Love Literacy® is used across Foundation, Year 1 and into Year 2, as well as for targeted intervention where extra support is needed. The program builds strong skills in:

• Phonemic awareness and phonics for reading and spelling

• Handwriting

• Reading fluency

• Vocabulary and comprehension

• Morphology (understanding word structure and meaning)

By combining evidence-based teaching with activities children enjoy, we give our students the confidence and skills they need to grow into fluent readers, writers and spellers.

Our student celebrate learning all of their stage 1-4 phonemes with a surprise party for Milo Monkey. Our children enjoy dressing up as the charatcers and attending our local kindergarten to share their learning from the year. 

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