English

Literacy Daily Reviews are implemented across the school every day to give students the opportunity to review previously taught content, with the aim of ensuring critical concepts and skills are mastered by students and transferred into their long-term memory.

In Pre-Primary to Year 2, students are explicitly taught phonics through the UFLI program. UFLI is an explicit and systematic approach that teaches students the foundational skills required for proficient reading. The program follows a carefully developed scope and sequence, ensuring that students build their skills step-by-step and apply each new concept with mastery.

Across Years 3-6, students learn to spell using the evidence-based program Spelling Mastery. This six-levelled spelling series uses an explicit, teacher-direct method of instruction that allows teachers to deliver interactive spelling lessons through the use of patterns and rules. Spelling Mastery interleaves phonemic, morphemic, and whole-word strategies to support students to become proficient spellers.
Spelling Mastery lessons run for 20 minutes per day, four times a week and contain weekly reviews/tests to track and monitor student’s progress. End-of-Level Criterion Test results, completed at the end of the year, determine a student’s placement in a Spelling Mastery level.

Our Pre-Primary to Year 2 students build their comprehension knowledge through the delivery of carefully curated Literature Knowledge Base Units. These units use a structured teaching sequence that:
• Centres on quality literature texts
• Builds background knowledge
• Focuses attention on critical content
• Develops vocabulary knowledge
• Provides explicit sentence-level instruction, and
• Integrates learning across multiple curriculum areas

Students in Years 3–6 build on the strong reading foundations established in the early years, through a combination of novel studies and core knowledge units, that embed The Writing Revolution approaches. These units deepen students’ comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking by engaging with rich and challenging texts. Through explicit instruction, structured writing, and meaningful discussion, students explore complex themes, develop a deeper understanding of language and structure, and make connections across curriculum areas.

Sentence Level Writing: Sentence-level writing, grammar, and punctuation are explicitly taught across the school in line with our Syntax Scope and Sequence. Our instructional model is guided by the evidence-based approaches of The Writing Revolution, ensuring consistency and clarity in how students learn to construct and refine written language.

Genre Writing: We use the Talk for Writing program as our whole-school approach to genre writing instruction. This program follows a three-phase model: Imitation, Innovation, and Invention. Students first internalise language patterns through oral storytelling before moving into shared, guided, and independent writing.
Talk for Writing is an interactive approach that develops confident and creative writers through structured language development and explicit teaching of genre knowledge. Students use story maps, drama, and group retellings to enhance participation and enjoyment. Through this program, they learn to write with clear structure while expanding their vocabulary, oral language, and grammar.

Handwriting: Handwriting is explicitly taught from Pre-Primary in line with our handwriting and presentation guidelines. Our school uses the NSW Foundation font for teaching and learning purposes.