English

Reading and Viewing, Speaking and Listening and Writing, and are all taught in line with the Victorian Curriculum. 

At St Brendan’s Catholic Primary School we aim:

• give students a purpose for learning outlined in clear learning intentions and success criteria
• teach using a structured approach where previous learning is regularly reviewed and new learning builds on current knowledge and understanding
• move students from being supported and scaffolded with new learning to being able to independently apply this learning in a range of contexts
• use an integrated approach to demonstrate how literacy skills are essential to learning in all subject areas 
• access evidence-based research programs to explicitly teach phonemic awareness, phonic knowledge (for reading and spelling), grammar, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension strategies, as well as skills for planning, revising and editing writing for a range of purposes
• plan opportunities for students to build their speaking and listening skills through classroom dialogue, both formal and informal
• regularly assess students’ progress and analyse the data collected to plan targeted teaching 

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, MacqLit and Reading Tutor, 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.

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.

Celebrating Literature

At St Brendan’s we raise the profile of literature. We celebrate and share opportunities to promote literacy across the school.  Events such as Book Week, National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS), Scholastic Reading Challenges,visits from the mobile library, cross aged literacy activities such as buddy reading, the opportunity to borrow weekly from the school Library, story-reading by members from the local community and school library reading challenges all enhance and promote the importance of literature in both the school community and the wider community.