At CSPS, our approach to Literacy is grounded in the Science of Reading and evidence-informed practices about how students learn to read and write. Through the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0) and Victorian Curriculum 2.0, we provide explicit, systematic and engaging learning experiences that build students’ skills, confidence and love of literacy.
Through assessment and responsive teaching, we meet students at their point of need, providing targeted support and appropriate challenge so every student can become a confident reader, writer and communicator.
From Prep – 6, Sounds-Write provides a systematic synthetic Phonics approach, building strong foundations in reading, spelling and phonological awareness. Our teaching also explicitly develops fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and oral language through rich and engaging texts.
The students in Prep to Year 2 are taught to read using a synthetic phonics approach. This program provides a very highly structured, multi-sensory, incremental and code-oriented, instructional approach to teaching children to read and spell.
At the start of the program, simple, one sound/one spelling, one-syllable, CVC words only are introduced. As the program progresses, the complexity of one-syllable words is increased to four-, five- and six-sound words of the structure CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC/CCCVCC, before introducing the most common consonant digraphs. (C – consonant, V – vowel).
Once the initial code is introduced, all the remaining common vowel and consonant sound to spelling correspondences are taught until all the common spellings for the forty-four sounds in English have been covered. In parallel with this, students are taught how to read and spell polysyllabic words, progressing from two-syllable to five and six-syllable words.
Our approach to writing is informed by The Writing Revolution and 6+1 Traits of Writing. Through explicit, systematic instruction, students develop skills in sentence construction, vocabulary, idea development, organisation and written expression. A consistent approach across Prep- 6 builds skills progressively, supporting students to become confident, capable and independent writers across a range of text types.
