Literacy

At Good Shepherd, we are committed to fostering the literacy development of every student, from Kindergarten through Year 6. Our approach incorporates a range of carefully selected programs and resources that prioritise evidence-based teaching methods and provide a strong foundation in both oral language and literacy skills.

Early Literacy (Kindergarten – Year 2)

In Kindergarten through Year 2, students engage with the InitiaLit program, a comprehensive, research-backed literacy curriculum developed by MultiLit (a research initiative of Macquarie University). InitiaLit is designed to teach children how to read and spell through daily lessons that incorporate research-based pedagogies. The program focuses on phonics, spelling, reading fluency, and comprehension, while also fostering the development of oral language and vocabulary through exposure to quality children’s literature.

Vocabulary acquisition is a key aspect of literacy development. A rich vocabulary enhances reading comprehension and supports writing skills. In InitiaLit, vocabulary is built through direct instruction, exploration of words, and shared reading experiences, allowing students to expand their word knowledge and use language effectively in both oral and written forms.

Intermediate Literacy (Years 3-6)

As students progress to Years 3-6, we transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." Our curriculum, grounded in the Australian Curriculum and supported by Catholic Education’s teaching sequence, ensures that spelling, writing, and literacy skills are developed through targeted, structured programs. In these years, we utilize resources such as Spelling Mastery, The Writing Revolution, and Catalyst Low Variation Curriculum Resources to continue supporting students' literacy growth.

• Spelling Mastery: This program offers structured lessons focused on teaching spelling skills that are essential for proficient reading and writing. Students in Years 3-6 are grouped according to their needs, ensuring that spelling instruction is appropriately tailored to each group.
• The Writing Revolution: This program introduces strategies to help students write increasingly complex and varied sentences, structure their ideas coherently, and ultimately write longer, more sophisticated texts. Grammar is taught within the context of writing rather than as a separate entity, ensuring that students understand how to use language effectively in real-world writing tasks.
• Catalyst Low Variation Curriculum Resources: These resources help to streamline learning and improve students' literacy abilities by using consistent, effective techniques and providing scaffolds that make reading, writing and speaking and listening activities more accessible. This curriculum supports students in developing their literacy across a range of genres and text types, using carefully selected, high-quality novels and mentor texts.

Our Literacy Framework

At Good Shepherd, we prioritise literacy across all areas of learning, not just within the English block. Our holistic approach ensures that literacy is embedded throughout every lesson and subject area, recognising the interconnectedness of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.

• We allocate two hours each day for English instruction, ensuring that all children have dedicated time to develop their literacy skills.
• Teachers are deeply committed to the personal literacy growth of every student, tailoring instruction to meet individual needs.
• Our classroom libraries provide a wide range of texts for students to explore, helping them select books that match their interests and reading levels.
• Teachers model reading every day, using texts for both instructional purposes and to encourage a love for reading.
• Regular data collection, at both the system and school level, is used to inform teaching practices and ensure that each student is supported in their literacy development.
• We subscribe to resources such as the MultiLit eLibrary, Sunshine Online Readers, and SORA, making a variety of books accessible to students at home.
• We value parent involvement in supporting literacy at home through daily reading and literacy learning through our Home Learning Hub.

By combining research-based programs, a rich variety of reading materials, and a commitment to holistic literacy instruction, we aim to equip all our students with the skills they need to succeed as lifelong readers and writers.

Numeracy

“Mathematics is at the centre of thinking about how to spend the day, how many events and jobs can fit into the day, what size of space can be used to fit equipment or turn a car around, how likely events are to happen, knowing how tweets are amplified and how many people they reach.” – Jo Boaler

Mathematics learning is informed by the Australian Curriculum version 9 and is organised around six key content areas of Number, Algebra, Measurement, Space, Statistics and Probability. These strands are sequentially developed to become more complex as students advance through their school years. To become efficient mathematical thinkers, students also need to develop the skills of mathematical reasoning and proficiency, including a sound understanding of and fluency with the concepts, skills, procedures and processes needed to interpret contexts, choose ways to approach situations using mathematics, and to reason and solve problems arising from these situations.

Teaching and learning experiences at Good Shepherd provide students with multiple opportunities to visit and revisit each content strand. Our teaching practices move students at a brisk pace through previously taught concepts, to revise and consolidate understanding. Explicit lessons introduce new concepts, and provide opportunities for students to demonstrate and practise their understanding in guided and independent situations. In all cases, students are expected to be active participants in their learning. 

Each classroom is very well-resourced with a range of manipulatives ( e.g. counters, unifix cubes, 3D objects, paddle pop sticks) to enhance understanding and support hands-on learning. All classrooms have electronic whiteboards enabling students to participate in multi-modal interactive lessons. Quality online mathematics resources are used to enhance learning, with Chromebooks and iPads available to all students in K-3 who are not part of the BYOD program. 

Quick and automatic recall of number facts is important in building students’ confidence and capacity to more efficiently access the Mathematics curriculum. The Rocket Math program supports this and has been rolled out across the school since 2022. It is a student-centred program, designed to build automaticity in the recall of basic operations. It begins with writing and recognising numerals and progresses through a developmental sequence of operations and applications. 

Mathematics concepts are integrated in other areas of the curriculum, providing authentic contexts for mathematics in its broader sense. For example, statistics for migration in the Year 6 HASS (History and Social Sciences) curriculum, distances thrown or jumped in athletics track events, recognising and reading numbers in information reports or creating graphs to show results in Science investigations.

Our goal is that all students come to believe that they are mathematicians who will be able to persevere to find solutions and make sense of real life situations.