At Stockdale Road, we use the Victorian Curriculum to plan, teach and assess our children in all areas. We use an evidence based approach called ‘The Big 6’ to structure how we teach Reading across the school. The Big 6 refers to Oral Language, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension.

At Stockdale Road, we teach sounds and letters in a sequenced way, using an approach called Synthetic Phonics. Staff across the school have been trained in a Phonics Program called Sounds Write and this is used to guide our teaching of Letters and Sounds.

Sounds Write starts in the first few weeks of Prep and then carries through to when the students are in Year One and in Year Two until they have mastered all of the sounds they need to read and write words. For those students who have not mastered these, we then provide an intense intervention program for years 3-6.

Students learn how to read at Stockdale Road by using books called Decodables. These are set up to align with the structure of Sounds Write, so students will learn how to read words by applying their sound knowledge. Once they have established their knowledge of the sounds and can read words fluently, they then move on to other texts. Students will then focus on further developing their vocabulary, fluency and comprehension by reading a wide range of texts.

With writing at Stockdale Road, students are encouraged to apply their knowledge of sounds to spell words. They are encouraged by the teacher to stretch out the sounds and match them to letters they know to make an attempt at writing the words. A range of writing genres are taught across the school, including narratives, recounts,  persuasive, explanations, procedural and informative texts. Children are given the opportunity to compose these on paper as well as on digital devices.

At Stockdale Road we value oral language and understand the importance and impact that it has on students learning. throughout the school day, there are various opportunities for students to collaborate with one another and participate in group discussions with the teacher. During these times, the children are taught to focus on their body language and voice depending on the audience and occasion, as well as their listening skills to ensure understanding.