English

At St Mary’s, we believe that Literacy is the cornerstone of a child’s ability to learn and succeed in all areas of life. Grounded in the Science of Reading, our approach ensures that all students develop strong foundational skills in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. By using evidence-based instruction, we strive to equip every student with the ability to read, write, and communicate effectively. Through these essential skills, students can confidently navigate and make sense of their world, preparing them to meet the challenges of the 21st century. 

 Students at St Mary’s participate in a daily two hour Literacy block which involves a variety of rich activities and experiences that include:

• Literacy Daily Review to practice previously taught materials 
• Explicit teaching of phonological awareness and phonics
• Recognition of irregular words/ high frequency words
• Guided practice to improve fluency
• Vocabulary development, including structured morphology from years 3 to 6
• Explicit teaching of comprehension strategies
• Explicit teaching of writing 
• Writing skills including a knowledge of sentence level writing, genre, punctuation and grammar, are enhanced through the use of the VCOP program
• Spelling
• Handwriting

To support our Reading programs and encourage a love of reading in our students, St Mary’s has a well stocked library where students have an opportunity to visit with their class and borrow books that are of interest to them.

UFLI 

UFLI, which stands for University of Florida Literacy Institute, is an explicit and systematic program that follows a carefully developed scope and sequence. It is designed to ensure that students systematically acquire skills needed for reading, writing and spelling. The UFLI program runs in the Prep to 2 classrooms.

The lessons follow a 8 step sequence:

1.Phonemic Awareness 

2. Visual Drill 
3. Auditory Drill 
4. Blending Drill 
5. New Concept
6. Word Work 
7. Irregular Words 
8. Connected Text

The program uses visual sound wall boards so students can reference and practice the sounds they have already learned. 

You can read more about UFLI here

 VCOP and the Big Write

At St Mary’s we use the VCOP structure to support Writing sessions in our classrooms. VCOP and the Big Write is a teaching approach based on the research of Ros Wilson, an expert based in the UK. It focuses on four main aspects of the writing process (VCOP) and provides children with the skills to improve their own writing through self-assessment.

VCOP stands for Vocabulary, Connectors, Openers, and Punctuation. 

Big Write sessions happen throughout units of work, providing students with the opportunity to write a full start-finish writing piece with support of the teachers and VCOP resources.

Cold Write sessions are where students are not given the opportunity to talk about the topic before writing and the learning aides are removed. It often comes with a whole school stimulus to get everyone talking. This is an opportunity for students to display what they know without the assistance from external resources.

A full explanation of the program with information about how you can help at home can be found here.

INTERVENTION

Targeted Literacy Intervention is provided at all year levels, facilitated by our Intervention Teachers and Learning Support Officers.