English

St Brendan's provides  evidence-based  literacy instruction. We subscribe to the  Science of Reading and apply a Structured Literacy approach, recognising that literacy acquisition  it too important to the outcomes of our students to leave to chance.

Daily, explicit literacy instruction occurs in the areas of phonology, sound-symbol (phonics), syllables, morphology, syntax and semantics from Foundation to Grade Six. Our teachers are highly skilled in the teaching of reading, writing and speaking &  listening, and kept up to date with current research and best-practice.

Our literacy curriculum is enriched by a focus on building background and general world knowledge. We ensure that literacy is always tightly connected to the whole curriculum  and inclusive of Religious Education, Science, Geography, History and Humanities.

Depending on the year level, the literacy block will include components as outlined in the  list below:

Daily Review

• No new learning. Review of previously taught content.

Building Blocks

• Phonology and Phonics
• Handwriting
• Paired Fluency
• Spelling (encoding)
• Words or Sentence Instruction (syllables, morphology, etymology, etc)

Movement Break

• Brainfood and Break

Pulling It All Together

• Text Study - linked to curriculum content
• Vocabulary and Idioms
• Comprehension
• Note Taking and Summarising
• Recording Ideas
• Read to: Reading extended texts to the class for enjoyment (class novel or picture book)

Parents as Partners

At St. Brendan’s we value the importance of developing close partnerships with our parents in their children’s learning. We acknowledge the tremendous impact parent involvement can have on building positive attitudes and improving student learning.

English Assessment

At St. Brendan’s we continuously use data to inform our teaching.

Our assessment informs future planning that allows for differentiation. 

We follow an assessment schedule in order to monitor children’s learning progress over time.

Formal and informal assessments of students occur throughout the year to monitor and cater for students’ needs. The information is then used to plan for future instruction. Reporting to parents occurs both informally and formally, through teacher/parent communication, student work samples, formal parent teacher interviews and written reports.

Intervention

English teaching offers support to assist the needs of both highly able students and those students with additional needs. We use the evidence-based research programs, Heggerty and Sounds Write , to provide explicit and systematic reading intervention for small groups and individual students.These programs are designed to help support our students to accelerate their learning to a level appropriate to their age. 

Students with additional needs in other year levels are supported through the use of our CEB school advisors, speech pathologists and Learning Support Officers who implement a variety of tailored programs.