At St Mary’s School we believe every child has an entitlement to learn critical literacy skills. We believe in teaching excellence and are dedicated to delivering fundamental, explicit, evidenced based teaching practices designed to inspire and ensure every student thrives. Literacy skills are crucial for engagement in society, for well-being and for fostering a life-long love of learning.
At St. Mary’s School we teach literacy using evidence based practises including explicit instruction, systematic synthetic phonics and the latest cognitive research. We report to the revised Victorian Curriculum 2.0.
In the Junior years – Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2, St Mary’s School offers:
- Structured literacy in a daily, uninterrupted Literacy block (2 hours)
- Explicit teaching
- Strong focus on oral language
- Systematic synthetic phonics
- Decodable texts
- Multi-sensory, evidence based learning in Reading and Spelling in the Junior years
- Direct instruction in the five “big ideas” of reading-phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension
- Handwriting
- Text writing including narratives, recounts, reports and procedures,
- Frequent, regular assessment and progress monitoring
From 2025, St. Mary’s School is introducing a comprehensive whole class, explicit, reading and spelling program called InitiaLit in Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2. This structured literacy program has been developed through Macquarie University Special Education Centre. InitiaLit will provide all students with the essential core knowledge and strong foundations to become successful readers and writers.
In the Middle Years- Years 3 and 4, St. Mary’s School offers:
- Structured literacy
- Explicit teaching
- Daily review
- Literature study including resources available to Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools through collaboration with Ochre Education
- Literacy through multi-modal texts utilising 1:1 Chromebooks
- SpellEx – an explicit spelling program developed by Macquarie University Special Education Centre.
- Public Speaking program (usually in Term 2 or 3) in conjunction with Speakstars
- Handwriting
- Text creation
- Additional Writing opportunities including a school Newspaper – The Mary Go Round and the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition. (Year 4)
In the Senior Years – Years 5 and 6, St. Mary’s School offers:
- Structured literacy
- Explicit teaching
- Daily review
- Literature study including resources through Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools collaboration with Ochre Education
- Alternate years of Public Speaking and Debating program (usually in Term 1) in conjunction with Advanced Presentation Skills
- Text creation including multimodal texts,
- Writing opportunities including a school Newspaper – The Mary Go Round, the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition, and the Junior Journalism competition.
All year levels have a weekly, timetabled Library session in our well-stocked library and Book Week is celebrated annually during which authors, illustrators and performers present to the students.
When data suggests that students may need additional support in acquiring critical literacy skills St. Mary’s School offers explicit, systematic intervention through the MiniLit Sage (small group) and MultiLit programs.
Parent helper training sessions are facilitated at the start of the year and classroom help in the junior years is welcomed.
St Mary’s School vision is that every student is known, nurtured and challenged in their attainment of fundamental Literacy skills through explicit, evidence based teaching practices which draw upon the latest research into cognitive science. Our academic data is testament to our achievement of that vision.