For an overview of how classes are structured at Upwey South Primary School, please refer to the preamble of the Specialist Subjects page.
At Upwey South Primary School, we are leaders in the implementation of evidence-based approaches to the teaching of English. In fact, through the bravery and faith shown by our School Council to adopt a 'science of reading' approach in 2018, we have been able to directly influence and provide valuable professional learning opportunities for schools across, and beyond, the Dandenong Ranges Network. This is a positive for everyone, as our aim is to improve literacy outcomes for all students across our region.
We have a saying at our school, which is applicable to all areas of the English curriculum inclusive of Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar and Punctation, and Speaking and Listening. The research behind our approach is relatively complex (and possibly too long for a school webpage) however, for illustration purposes, our mantra for teaching English is:
- Foundation - Year Two “Learning to be a great reader”
- Year Three - Year Six “Reading to be a great learner”
The extensive professional learning which has been undertaken by our staff cannot just be measured in the academic results of our students over recent years, however the following case study from Macquarie University had a good shot at trying to illustrate the academic impact we are having on our students:
MultiLit at Upwey South Primary School
If you speak with students, families, and staff about our school they will most likely comment that the school's approach to teaching English is achieving great results. In fact, based upon 2024 NAPLAN results over 95% of students in both Year Three and Year Five achieved in the 'strong' or 'exceeding' category for Writing, which is almost 20 percentage points above similar schools; with our school leading the Dandenong Ranges Network when looking at the percentage of students who achieved 'exceeding'. These strong results were also reflected across Reading, Grammar and Punctuation, and Spelling with over 80% of students achieving ‘strong’ or ‘exceeding’ across all areas. Through our professional learning partnership with Macquarie University, our 2024 Spelling results were up to 25 percentage points above similar schools.
Our school’s commitment to furthering staff professional learning and student achievement, has seen our school become part of a four-year research project conducted by Macquarie University, and backed by the Federal Reading Pledge. Ten schools across Australia were selected, with Upwey South Primary School being the only Victorian school qualifying to take part.
Before we take a closer look at our English curriculum, it is important to note the below extract from an open letter authored by our School Council:
|
“...whilst the above English achievements are exceptional, we understand that they are merely indicators of how individual students perform at a given point in time. In fact, we acknowledge that these metrics are no-way indicative of the holistic and complex nature of curricular and extra-curricular initiatives that make Upwey South Primary School such an inviting and positive educational experience for our students. It is important to be mindful that Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Physical Education, Auslan, Sciences, or student leadership and wellbeing are not measured through standardised testing environments such as NAPLAN. Collective results across our curriculum (whilst not always publicly accessible) highlight the incredible contribution that USPS teaching staff make to grow, nurture, and support our students in their learning. It is the combined strong academics across ALL curriculum areas, and the caring focus provided by our staff whichultimately makes Upwey South Primary School the positive learning environment that it has become...” |
But let us get back to one of our favourite subject areas...English.
Within our school, we approach the teaching of English through a tiered-intervention model. That is to say that there are three levels of teaching and learning:
- Tier One whole-class learning; these are mini-lessons conducted by the teacher in a systematic and sequential manner. Learning is differentiated through effective assessment practices across varying levels of student abilities.
- Tier Two small group intervention; students who require additional support, or extension, receive small group support within the classroom setting.
- Tier Three individualised Intervention; students who require additional support, or extension, beyond that of a small group setting. These students receive structured lessons beyond the classroom by a trained intervention teacher.
Within the teaching of English, we utilise the evidence-based Response-to-Intervention (RTI) suite from Macquarie University, known as MultiLit (Making Up for Lost Time in Literacy). This involves three levels of explicit-direct instruction being:
Tier One:
✓ InitialLit; whole class instruction for students in Foundation- Year Two
✓ SpellEx; whole class spelling instruction for Year Three-Year Four students
Tier Two:
✓ MiniLit; small group intervention for students in Year One/ Year Two
✓ MacqLit; small group intervention for students in Year Three- Year Six
Tier Three:
✓ Word Attack; one-one intervention for students with a Specific Learning Disorder which may be impacting progress. This is generally targeted at students in Year Four- Year Six.
The infographics below provide a visual representation of how many areas of teaching connect to promote literacy.
The importance of scaffolded Language Acquisition
Language acquisition, sometimes referred to as the most important building block toward becoming literate, follows the basic skill acquisition of:
- Gesturing for communication; children engage through gestures such as formal or informal sign language, body movements, facial expressions.
- Listening for communication; beyond observing body and facial expressions, children begin hearing words and sounds, and begin making connections with what these sounds represent. In educational terms, this is referred to as ‘receptive’ communication.
- Oral communication; this can begin as basic attempts at making sounds, mimicking, and attempting more formal sounds, such as words or animal noises. In educational terms, this is referred to as ‘expressive’ communication.
- Conversational communication; as children begin to develop the confidence to communicate orally, they begin to form coherent words and sentences to communicate their needs and wants.
- Reading for communication; as children begin to make connections between sounds and their graphical representations, they begin to make connections with the written word (either through letters, symbols, or picture cues) and the world around them.
- Writing for communication; this is the final piece required to communicate using the English language as we know it. Children begin to form attempts at letters, words, and even sentences. This stage can build quickly from simple directional strokes on a page, to legible words and letters.
In relation to the teaching of reading instruction, a 2017 research paper from the NSW Centre for Education and Evaluation found there are five essential elements of effective early reading instruction:
- Phonemic awareness; Identifying and manipulating the individual sounds in spoken words.
- Phonics; ‘Sounding out’ or decoding words using knowledge of the relationships between letters and sounds.
- Fluency; Reading quickly and accurately.
- Vocabulary; Knowing the meaning of many words and the structure of written language.
- Comprehension; Understanding and interpreting texts.
Across educational texts, these are colloquially referred to as the ‘Five Big Ideas’ of evidence-based literacy.
.png)
For the real-life stories of what happens within our English curriculum please refer to our school newsletters.
For further information, we encourage you to speak with one of our many highly skilled teachers.