Literacy

At Woodend Primary School, we are committed to developing confident, capable and enthusiastic readers, writers and communicators. We strive to foster a lifelong love of literacy by providing engaging, evidence-based learning experiences that build strong foundations and support every student to achieve success.

Our Literacy program is aligned with the Victorian Curriculum and develops students' skills across the three key modes of English:

• Reading and Viewing
• Writing
• Speaking and Listening

Students participate in a dedicated daily English block which incorporates Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. These skills are explicitly taught and continually developed through classroom discussions, collaborative learning and learning experiences across all curriculum areas.

Our teaching is informed by evidence-based practices and is built around the Big Six of Reading—oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension—as well as the 6+1 Writing Traits. These approaches provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to become confident, successful readers and writers.

To support literacy development, we implement a range of high-quality, evidence-based programs, including:

• Phonics Plus – the Victorian Department of Education's structured synthetic phonics program (Foundation to Year 2)
• Heggerty Phonological Awareness
• PhOrMeS (Years 3–6)

Our English block incorporates research and evidence-based practices, enabling teachers to explicitly model new learning, provide guided practice, and gradually support students to apply their skills independently.

Student progress is regularly monitored using a range of assessment tools, including DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) and PAT Reading (Progressive Achievement Tests). These assessments help teachers identify individual learning needs, celebrate student growth, and provide timely support or extension. Our teaching teams work collaboratively to analyse assessment data, moderate student work, and ensure every student continues to make meaningful progress.

Reading for enjoyment is an important part of life at Woodend Primary School. All classes have classroom libraries and all students across Foundation – Year 6 are encouraged to take books home each night.

Students have access to our vibrant school library, which offers a wide range of engaging fiction, non-fiction and decodable texts to support readers at every stage of their learning journey. Students can also access our extensive collection of digital books through the Wheelers ePlatform, providing opportunities to read anytime, anywhere.