Learning and Teaching

Sacred Heart Sandringham - Ahead of the Curve and Leading the Way

In 2022, We, at Sacred Heart Primary School underwent a significant transition, moving from a Balanced Literacy approach to a Structured Literacy approach, guided by ‘The Science of Reading and Learning’. This shift has positioned Sacred Heart as a beacon school in the Bayside and beyond. We are now known for our explicit and direct instructional teaching practices with many schools reaching out to see our classrooms in action.

We are thrilled to see the Victorian Government's recent announcement endorsing these transformations in pedagogical practices which now highlights that we are ‘Ahead of the Curve and Leading the Way.

Premier of Victorian Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Hon Ben Carroll: MAKING BEST PRACTICE COMMON PRACTICE IN THE EDUCATION STATE’.

“The evidence shows that explicit teaching and the use of systematic synthetic phonics instructions gets results – while we already lead the nation in NAPLAN results, we’re always looking to improve, especially in relation to lifting outcomes for disadvantaged students.”

“We want to ensure that every student in a Victorian government school is taught to read using the evidence-base that fosters the strongest outcomes.” “The reforms and the rollout of the lesson plans will reduce teacher workload and equip them with high quality, best practice materials so they can spend more time with their students and less time planning.”

Below is a table which shows what the announcement suggests and how we at Sacred Heart are already ahead of the curve

Announcements Main takeaways	What is Happening at Sacred Heart
Explicit teaching practices happening in every classroom.	Our dedicated staff at Sacred Heart have fully embraced high-impact teaching strategies and engaged in frequent, evidence-informed professional development, including twice-weekly sessions. These efforts, well received by staff, underscore their passion for change and growth. Key practices include: Engagement Norms: Techniques such as tracked and choral reading, pair-shares, and using whiteboards to foster class participation and engagement. These norms focus on reading, vocabulary, listening, speaking, and remembering. Learning Objectives: Clearly defined goals describing what students will achieve independently by the end of each lesson. Checking for Understanding (CFU): Continual assessment to ensure students are grasping the material during lessons, guiding lesson pace and uncovering misunderstandings. I Do, We Do, You Do: A gradual release of responsibility, allowing students ample practice before a final check for understanding by the teacher.
All students from Prep to Grade 2 will be taught using a systematic synthetic phonics approach as part of their reading programs, with a minimum of 25 minutes daily explicit teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness.	Our Structured Literacy Approach which follows the ‘Big 5 of Reading’ that includes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. This has been at the cornerstone of our pedagogical shift, incorporating methodologies such as:- MSL ( Multisensory Structured Language) Oral language intervention (Language for Thinking) Heggerty (Phonological awareness) Spelling Mastery TWR MacqLit The above evidence based approaches/programs has resulted in improved teaching and learning practices and a notable increase in enrolments by 15% since the adoption of these practices in 2022
This will be a core component of a comprehensive reading program that also includes explicit teaching of oral language, vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension.
Teachers will receive high-quality, practical lesson plans for English and Mathematics to support the implementation of these approaches. These resources will reduce teacher workload and support high-quality, evidence-based teaching in every school.	Teachers at Sacred Heart have access to lesson resources for English and Mathematics that have been designed with the Science of Learning and the curriculum in mind.