At St. Patrick’s we believe that essential to all learning, is literacy competence. Therefore the study of English is central to the growth and development of all our students. Our English program strives to develop in each child the skills, behaviours and knowledge required to become literate lifelong learners. Through contemporary learning approaches we aim to empower students with the literacy knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of the future.

Reading and Viewing, Writing and Speaking and Listening are all taught in line with the Victorian curriculum.

We achieve student learning through

• Explicit, focused teaching which builds on students strengths and targets the developmental needs of individual students

• Engaging students in purposeful, meaningful learning tasks

• Implementation of the ongoing professional development of teachers, ensuring teaching practices are well grounded in current educational research and thinking

• Embracing 21st Century learning that incorporates a wide variety of multiliteracies

• By encouraging the transference of  literacy skills into all curriculum areas

English Assessment

At St Patrick’s we continuously use data to inform our teaching. Our assessment informs future planning that allows for differentiation. We follow an assessment schedule in order to monitor children’s learning progress over time. Formal and informal assessments of students occur throughout the year to monitor and cater for students’ needs. The information is then used to plan for future instruction. Reporting to parents occurs both informally and formally, through teacher/parent communication, student work samples, formal parent teacher interviews and written reports.

Intervention

Learning and teaching across the English curriculum offers support to assist the needs of all students. Whereby there are identified needs for further support, we implement a range of targetted intervention supports bespoke to the student's needs. Our learning support staff are exceptional at strategically supporting students within the classroom context and providing additional support to apply intervention-based skills into all learning areas.

Parents As Partners

At St. Patrick’s we value the importance of developing close partnerships with our parents in their children’s learning. We acknowledge the tremendous impact parent involvement can have on building positive attitudes and improving student learning. We encourage parents to support children’s learning by taking an active role through classroom support.