Learning - Literacy and Numeracy
At St Francis de Sales, improving student literacy and numeracy outcomes is an integral component of core school business.
Literacy and numeracy are considered to be the foundational building blocks in every young person’s education. They can determine how easily a child or adolescent can access the curriculum and beyond. The significance given to literacy and numeracy in Australian schools is evident in the compulsory assessment of all students in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 through NAPLAN.
The College employs a Literacy and Numeracy Specialist Teacher, who, together with the Inclusive Education KLA Leader, Literacy and Numeracy tutors and teacher assistants form the Literacy and Numeracy Learning Team. This team meets regularly to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students across the College.
While strategies to improve overall literacy and numeracy outcomes are implemented school wide and among all year levels, there is a specific focus on targeting students in Year 7 and 8. We do this in order to give our young adolescents the best possible start to their secondary schooling.
Our programs and strategies include:
- Quicksmart Program for students who receive low stanines (normed results) in PAT scores or who may qualify for extra support for identified learning needs in literacy or numeracy. (See downloadable Quicksmart file below).
- Our Accelerated Reader programs which occurs once a fortnight for all students in Year 7 and 8.
- Annual assessment processes for Year 7 and 8 using PAT Assessment and Data to identify students who may need specific targeted support for literacy and or numeracy difficulties.
- A classroom focus on explicit instruction in specific writing practices across different KLA areas. The College has identified key writing targets to be improving students’ paragraphing and sentence skills. Models used across the school for improvement are PEEL (all subject areas), supported by MATES (specific to English analytical essay writing).
- Literacy and Numeracy Handbook available to all staff, students and parents online. This valuable resource provides models, scaffolds and supports for all text types and numeracy operations. (See link to the handbook below).
- Use of data and evidence from all assessment and testing to plan programs, implement strategies, review and analyse our progress, and to ensure our students have the most effective support we can provide in order to improve and enhance literacy and numeracy outcomes.
- Specialised focus and improvement in all learning programs across the school, with a specific focus in the Mathematics and English Key Learning Areas.
Download:
QuickSmart_Information.docx