At St Columba's we recognise that Literacy is a powerful, wide ranging life skill that plays a central role in our ability to learn across the curriculum and impacts on the way we engage with the others in the world around us. At our school we have high expectations for our students to demonstrate competency and achieve success in all areas of the English curriculum: Reading and Viewing, Writing and Speaking, and Listening.
Literacy
As such, we emphasise building strong foundations for literacy and focus on:
- Developing students understanding of phonics, orthography and etymology through our spelling lessons informed by Read, Write, Inc in the Prep-Year 2 and SMART Spelling in Years 3-6.
- Building strong decoding and comprehension skills so that students experience success in reading and enjoy reading. Reading practices in Prep-Year 6 incorporate the use of the Daily 5 and CAFE framework.
- Teaching writing skills, grammar, and vocabulary through the deep study of rich literature.
- Giving students varied opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen that allow for student's individual needs, preferences, and voice.
- Conferencing with students during reading and writing experiences so that we can give students feedback and help them to set goals that will assist them to progress.
- Helping students develop an appreciation of the ways language provides opportunities to acquire knowledge, explore ideas, express opinions and listen to the opinions of others.
- Formal and informal assessments are key to assisting students' progress. At St Columba's Differentiation Support Teachers and Learning Support Officers work alongside classroom teachers during literacy sessions to provide targeted small group and individual instruction as needed.
