Instructional Model

Literacy Policy

Rationale:

The Victorian Curriculum clearly states that teaching the subject of English is an essential, if not the most essential role of a primary school.

At School we recognise that without effective communication, little achievement can be made. We know that we have a duty to ensure that English teaching is a priority and we recognise that this is necessarily cross-curricular and a constant through-out school life and beyond.

Teachers should develop pupil’s spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary as integral aspects of the teaching of every subject. English is both a subject in its own right and the medium for teaching; for Students, understanding the language provides access to the whole curriculum.

We are an inclusive school, we set high expectations and recognise the importance of accurate and regular assessment in order to support individuals at every part of their learning journey and in whatever circumstances. We use one to one support, small groups and whole class group work to help with this. We plan teaching opportunities to help those for whom English is an additional language and those with disabilities outlined in the DET Program for Students with Disabilities guidelines.

Spoken Language:

The Victorian Curriculum states that Students should be taught to speak clearly and convey ideas confidently.  They should:

• Justify ideas with reasons
• Ask questions to check understanding
• Develop vocabulary and build knowledge
• Negotiate
• Evaluate and build on the ideas of others
• Select the appropriate register for effective communication
• Give well structured descriptions and explanations
• Speculate, hypothesise and explore ideas
• Organise their ideas prior to writing

Our aims and connected provision:

We encourage our Students to speak clearly and confidently and articulate their views and opinions. We teach that children need to express themselves orally in an appropriate way, matching their style and response to audience and purpose. Listening and responding to literature, giving and receiving instructions. They develop the skills of participating effectively in group discussions.

Ways in which we support this include:

• Activities which are planned to encourage full and active participation by all children, irrespective of ability
• Children with specific speech and language and auditory problems will be identified and specialist help sought, where appropriate
• Timetabling structured talk-time
• Public speaking competitions
• Poetry recital events
• School Plays
• Class debates
• Weekly assembly
• Events within the community
• School Council
• Talk partners
• Book talk sessions
• Drama / role play
• Circle time

           Reading:

The Victorian Curriculum states that Students should be taught to read fluently, understand extended prose and be encouraged to read for pleasure. Reading is singled out as of extreme importance since through it students have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.  Reading allows students to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know.

The Victorian Curriculum divides reading skills into two dimensions:

• Word reading/ decoding
• Comprehension

We recognise that both these elements are essential to success and we support the acquisition of both sets of skills through various methods. We recognise that these areas are clearly linked to the other aspects of English learning: speaking and listening and writing. We also understand that reading is a developmental process and part of life-long learning and we encourage and praise children at every stage of it.

Our aims and connected provision:

• Students learn to read easily and fluently through daily phonics in F – 2, regular reading to adults in school, reading partners and an incentives program to read at home
• Students develop skills in reading for understanding through online reading programs like WUSHKA.
• Students are encouraged to read widely, through our use of differing class texts, reading diaries, library visits and high quality attractive books in classrooms.
• Students are encouraged to read for pleasure using reading partners, quiet reading time, listening to an adult read and reading diaries.
• Students also need to read to find information in all lessons and comprehension is assessed in a formal way every term.
• Students are exposed to a range of texts from their literacy heritage through the school BOOK DRIVE program.
• Students often look at books in guided reading sessions

Writing:

The Victorian Curriculum states that Students should:

• Develop the stamina and skills to write at length
• Use accurate spelling and punctuation
• Be grammatically correct
• Write in a range of ways and purposes including narratives, explanations, descriptions, comparisons, summaries and evaluations
• Write to support their understanding and consolidation of what they have heard or read

The Victorian Curriculum divides writing skills into two dimensions:

• Transcription (spelling and handwriting)
• Composition (articulating ideas in speech and writing)

We recognise that both these elements are essential to success and we support the acquisition of both sets of skills through various methods. We recognise that these areas are clearly linked to the other aspects of English learning: speaking and listening and reading.