From the Learning Specialists
The Learning Specialist Role
Learning Specialists are highly skilled teachers who continue to spend most of their time in the classroom. They work closely with other teachers to improve teaching practices and student learning outcomes. These include:
- Model excellence in teaching and learning through demonstration lessons.
- Mentor and coach other teachers to enhance their skills and effectiveness.
- Lead and support professional learning within the school.
- Use evidence-based teaching strategies and evaluate their impact on student learning
Teaching and Learning Update
The Introduction of Phormes and OCHRE
We are excited to announce the introduction of Phormes in our Foundation to Year 1 (F-1) classrooms. This new approach follows intensive training for many of our teachers, ensuring they are well-equipped to implement this exciting phonics program. Phormes will build upon our existing strong foundation in teaching systematic synthetic phonics, further enhancing our students' literacy skills.
Why Phormes? Phormes is designed to provide a more comprehensive, integrated and engaging approach to phonics instruction. By engaging our students with this program, we aim to:
- strengthen our students' phonemic awareness and decoding skills.
- build a love for reading through interactive and enjoyable learning experiences.
- support differentiated instruction to meet the diverse needs of all our students.
In addition to Phormes, we are also implementing OCHRE to support the teaching and learning of Mathematics. OCHRE is a research-based program that focuses on developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts through hands-on activities and problem-solving.
High Frequency Word Lists (formerly Camera Words)As part of the Phormes program, your child will regularly bring home High Frequency Word lists. These are the words they are focusing on in class that week and may include words they've encountered in Term 1. The goal is to support their reading and writing fluency by reinforcing commonly used words both at school and at home.
Why OCHRE: Our school is excited to implement OCHRE mathematics resources, which are evidence-based and align with Victorian standards. These resources are carefully sequenced to build on prior learning, rich in knowledge and vocabulary, and comprehensive enough to cover a full year of teaching. They incorporate proven teaching practices and offer professional learning support for teachers. Additionally, OCHRE provides scaffolding to support diverse learners and is committed to embedding diversity in all its materials. The resources are flexible, allowing teachers to adapt them to meet the unique needs of their students, ensuring a more effective and inclusive learning experience.
We are confident that these new approaches to teaching and learning will significantly benefit our students' learning experiences. We look forward to seeing the positive impact they will have on our school community.
Student Reporting - Parent Feedback Survey
Last term, we invited parents/carers to participate in a survey to provide feedback on our student reporting template. Following our most recent review in 2023, we aim to ensure that our reports continue to effectively communicate your child's academic and social/emotional progress, and remove unnecessary 'curriculum jargon.' We are now in the process of unpacking the data and will provide a summary in the coming weeks.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership in your child's education. Together, we can ensure that our reporting template is a useful document for all parents/carers.
2025 Learning Specialists
Robyn Apostolopoulos and Samantha Waugh
