Lifting Literacy – The Reading Priority

At PDS we know that reading is foundational to all other areas of learning and life in a broader sense.  As a department, and as a school, we know that student reading success is a key indicator of success in the future.  From 2024 all Tasmanian Government schools are beginning their journey in developing a new approach to the teaching of reading.  This approach is effective for beginning, emerging and advanced readers. 

Children aren’t born with natural skills in reading.  It is a skill that needs to be taught systematically and explicitly.  Reading is also something that can be broken down into lots of smaller individual skills.

As our staff develop their own understandings around current research in reading, you may hear some of the following terms come up in conversation with both your students and teachers.

The Big Six of Reading

This refers to the key foundational elements of reading:

• Oral language – Talking and listening.
• Phonological awareness – Being able to recognise individual sounds in speech.
• Phonics – Being able to recognise the relationship between letters and sounds. 
• Vocabulary – Knowing the meaning of a word makes you more likely to be able to read it.
• Fluency – This is a key indicator of reading success, but it is not just about being able to read quickly, its about reading a way that shows you understand the meaning.
• Comprehension – Understanding what you read.

In our Early Years Oral language, phonological awareness are key components of our learning programs.  As students move into the primary and secondary space, the focus shifts more into the teaching of vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.  Skilled readers will be able to use all of the components interchangeably.

Intervention and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.

What this means is that throughout the school there are 3 key ways that teaching instruction is used to make sure that.

In Tier 1, all students are taught reading in a quality evidence-based way. 

In Tier 2, more intensive reading support is provided in small groups to need extra help with specific skills.  Our Reading Groups are a great example of this.

In Tier 3, more intensive and more frequent tailored intervention is provided for students in a 1-1 or 1-2 setting.  This intensive support is provided by our Literacy Intervention team.  It’s like an extra dose of what is already happening in the classroom to reinforce key concepts.  The aim of this type of teaching is to give students the skills they need so they no longer require this type of intervention.

Decodable Texts

This is a term you have probably heard already, but it’s worth a quick explanation.  Decodable texts are used primarily during the early reading stage.  They are sequenced texts that relate to the phonemes (sounds) that a student has already been taught.  The aim of using these texts is to ensure students are learning to decode words rather than guessing.  You may have already noticed an increase in the number of decodable texts available for home reading in the Early Years.

Staff Reading Professional Learning

All of our teaching staff are currently undertaking whole of Department Professional Learning through Qualiteach modules.  This will continue across the year.  We will also have a number of staff who begin to engage in spaced learning programs around word recognition and fluency later this year. 

Reading at home

To support our families with “Reading at home,” we are extremely lucky to have Sheila Steele hosting a session on Friday 31^st May from 9.00 – 10.0am.  I know I am really excited about this session and would encourage as many parents/carers to come along as possible.   Don’t forget to RSVP.

We will share more information around our reading journey as the year progresses.

Cross Country Carnivals

Looking ahead to next week we are excited to hold our Secondary (21 May) and Primary (23 May) Cross Country Carnivals. Hopefully, the weather can be a bit kinder to us this year!
Please note, to be compliant with our school’s Safeguarding Risk Management Plan, and to ensure the safety of all children, we ask that you:

1. Only take photos of your own children
2. If publishing photos of your own children on social media platforms, they do not contain images of others.

Thank you for your support in keeping our school community safe.

Yours in partnership

Adrian Beard (AP)

Staffing Update (from Mr Perry)

Mrs Angella McAulliffe spoke with me yesterday afternoon. I can inform you that she has made the somewhat difficult decision to extend her leave next term and return to PDS in Term 4. I would like to wish her all the best in continuing her time at home with Milly and her family as they share invaluable time together, creating lifelong memories. I will continue to lead the school during this time and Mr Adrian Beard will continue in the role of Primary AP alongside Geoff Davis as Secondary AP.