LITERACY AND NUMERACY
At Reservoir Views Primary School, we are student centred and focus on each individual as a learner. We teach using the Victorian Curriculum as a continuum of learning for our students throughout their schooling.
We follow the Berry Street model of wellbeing to ensure each child is catered to as a whole both academically and emotionally. The Victorian Curriculum is at the basis of all Teaching & Learning.
Individual Education Plans
All students at Reservoir Views Primary School have an Individual Education Plan (IEP). The IEP is a plan each child has reflecting their next steps in their learning as an individual. It states what they are capable of, what their next goal is, how the teacher will support this learning, what the student will do to ensure they are reaching their goal and how you can support the learning at home.
Our students are self-regulated learners who know their learning needs and are able to articulate this ensuring they are able to take the next steps in their learning.
IEPs are communicated with families on a termly basis, as parents/ carers, you are part of the process ensuring your child is catered for. Each student has Literacy, Maths and Personal Goals to guide them, students will bring home a copy each term.
Teaching and Learning of Literacy.
‘Literacy is vital for every child and young person, and underpins their ability to engage in education, reach their potential and fully participate in the community.’ – John Hattie 2004
At Reservoir Views Primary School we are committed to developing strong literacy skills in all our students. We understand that learning to read and write is not a natural process and therefore, students require explicit, systematic instruction with many opportunities for guided and independent practice. Our students are involved in daily, explicit instruction in the ‘Big 6’ of Reading including:
Oral Language
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Vocabulary
Fluency
Comprehension
Oral language plays a major role in our F-2 learning program. Teachers model and provide multiple, daily opportunities for students to develop their oral language skills through story-telling, collaborative learning opportunities, developmental play and show and tell.
Our phonics instruction is informed by current research which focuses on phonemic awareness and developing students’ knowledge of letter-sound correspondences. Our students are given daily opportunities to develop their reading skills through guided and independent practice including reading a range of decodable texts. Vocabulary and comprehension are taught explicitly across F-6 through the use of rich fiction and non-fiction mentor texts that build students’ background knowledge, improve the breadth and depth of their vocabulary and develop their understanding of text features and structures. Students in 3-6 students participate in daily morphology study that supports both reading and spelling.
Writing at Reservoir Views includes explicit teaching of transcription skills including letter formation, handwriting, punctuation and spelling as well as text generation including planning, drafting, editing, word choice, grammar, text structure and genre. Students in F-2 focus on developing their sentence-level writing as well as experimenting with a range of narrative and informative text types. In 3-6, students’ writing is extended to paragraph and text level as they develop more control over text structures and language features.
In addition to strong Tier 1 classroom instruction, we provide Tier 2 reading intervention for students who require some more support in reading. The small-group program MacqLit consists of MiniLit for F-2 and MultiLit for 3-6 students.
Teaching and Learning of Mathematics.
Numeracy is involved in all aspects of our lives and at RVPS, we believe it is fundamental for our students to develop confidence and competence in Mathematics. Students participate in at least 5 maths lessons across the week which incorporate the Mathematics Proficiency Strands:
Fluency
Understanding
Problem Solving
Reasoning
Lessons include retrieval and review of previously learnt content, fluency practice to develop automaticity of number facts, the use of a range of hands-on materials, fun games, explicit teaching and guided and independent practice opportunities. Students are taught how to make connections between mathematical concepts and apply a range of strategies to solve problems in different contexts. Students’ oral language and mathematical reasoning skills are developed through targeted questioning and a focus on students explaining their thinking.
Teachers assess students’ knowledge, ability and understanding in each mathematical area using a range of assessments to ensure the next steps in their learning.