Assistant Principal's Report

MiniLit Sage: Supporting student with literacy learning.

As part of our school’s implementation of the Science of Language and Reading, the TSL team have been learning about the MiniLit Sage program and how it can support students who require extra support developing strong literacy skills.

MiniLit Sage is an evidence-based, explicit, and effective early literacy intervention program tailored for children in Year 1 or 2.  This program is best delivered in small groups, accommodating up to five students per group, operating within a Response to Intervention framework. It's designed to offer tailored support to enhance the reading abilities of students that are struggling with early reading skills using a systematic synthetic phonics approach. It has a strong focus on the Five Big Ideas in Reading: phonics, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, vocabulary and fluency, which is backed by the Science of Reading. 

How does it work?

While MiniLit sessions should be conducted regularly, the program is flexible and can be delivered by teachers, learning support teachers, teacher aides, or special educators. Its key benefits include being evidence-based, cost-effective, and equipped with detailed lesson plans for easy implementation. 

The program is split into two levels;

• Level 1: Focuses on letter/sound knowledge and decoding skills for CVC words.
• Level 2: Extends word attack knowledge by teaching digraphs and longer words.

A placement test determines the starting point for each student, with ongoing assessments monitoring progress. Each lesson comprises three components: Sounds and Words Activities, Text Reading, and Story Book Reading.

Where to next?

The TSL team are currently exploring how to best implement MiniLit Sage to support struggling readers in Years 1-2 and plan to use this learning to extend our support through MacqLit for Years 3-6.

Once this approach is finalised, we will develop it into a whole school approach to literacy intervention, to ensure that all students experience success with literacy learning and development.