Our Learning
Literacy at WPS
A Whole School Literacy Program that explicitly teaches phonics, writing, reading comprehension and handwriting — so every learner can read and write with confidence.
Phonics — Little Learners Love Literacy
In Foundation through to Grade 3, WPS uses the Little Learners Love Literacy program — an Australian evidence-based program that takes a multi-sensory approach designed to teach children to read, write and spell with confidence.
A multi-sensory approach means children learn phonics through all parts of their bodies — kinesthetically in conjunction with fine motor skill tasks, and orally with speed sounds and chants. When students have finished learning their first stage of sounds, we introduce decodable readers so they can practise their developing skills in connected text.
- Phonemic awareness — hearing and manipulating sounds
- Phonics — letter-sound relationships (grapheme–phoneme)
- Vocabulary knowledge — building word understanding
- Fluency — reading smoothly and accurately
- Comprehension — making meaning from text
Why decodable readers?
Each stage is sequentially taught so that children can learn, apply and practise their developing skills in words and connected text — and most importantly, have success when reading. Success builds confidence, and confidence builds readers.
What we explicitly teach
- Planning and organising ideas
- Drafting and revising
- Publishing for an audience
- Exploring different text genres
- Understanding author style and craft
- Using rich children's literature as mentor texts
Writing — confidence, creativity and craft
Our Writing program is designed to help every child develop confidence, creativity, and strong communication skills. Students write regularly for meaningful purposes, often exploring topics that interest and inspire them.
Through the exploration of different text genres and author styles, students learn how writing can be adapted for a variety of purposes and audiences. Rich children's literature plays an important role in this process, providing high-quality examples that inspire ideas and demonstrate the craft of writing in action.
In the early years, students begin by developing their ideas through drawing and oral storytelling, gradually building the skills and confidence needed to create written texts.
Handwriting — print font for clear learning
At Warrandyte Primary School we teach a print font. Research and many Occupational Therapists agree that cursive writing font requires greater motor coordination and complexity of letter formation.
With a print writing font each letter is isolated, its shape stable and the pen lifts between letters — allowing planning time. This makes print more accessible for developing writers and supports clearer, more confident letter formation.
Poudou, 2018; Bara & Morin, 2013.
