The foundations for literacy are laid in the home and your support as parents is highly valued.

Children are encouraged and guided by their teachers to select books for daily reading and, in their early years, will bring these home to share with you. Reading at home should primarily be about reading for pleasure. We encourage you to listen to your children and to question their understanding of the text, but ultimately to foster a love of reading. Teachers will share information on how you can enjoy and respond to language, communicate effectively in a range of contexts and use language purposefully.

We would also encourage you to read aloud to your children every day, at all ages. The National Library highlights the fact that “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” (Becoming a Nation of readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading)

In English you will see children reading: big books, wall charts, poems, song charts, library books, commercially produced graded readers, the writing of other students, in fact almost any sort of text. We aim to immerse children in a literate environment. Language-based games and activities can be seen in operation at any time of our school day.

Children are explicitly taught the skills and features of writing including spelling and grammar. They practise daily, writing lists, letters, cards, poems, diaries, journals, and reports across all areas of the curriculum as well as narratives and recounts.