We believe that strong literacy skills underpin all learning and work with determination to ensure all of our students develop sound reading, writing and spelling skills. Students are engaged in 10 hours of English per week as we understand how vital English skills are to support all learning. We use evidence-based methods to ensure all students succeed and thrive in this area.
Teachers include explicit and systematic teaching of fundamental knowledge and skills. Our approach at Loch provides the best possible environment for all students to develop the ability to read, write and understand the rules that underpin the English language.
Our structured reading and writing approach includes:
- Phonological awareness and phonics skills screening on arrival
- Explicit teaching of phonological awareness and phonics
- Automatically training the recognition of irregular words/high frequency words
- Guided practice to improve fluency
- Vocabulary development, included structured morphology from Prep to Grade 6
- Explicit teaching of comprehension questioning techniques