Literacy News

Pen Pals

I would love to receive a few more letter to send to the members of The Sacred Heart Community. If your family are interested, please write a short letter and pass it to me by Tuesday March 4.

If you are new to this initiative, address your letter 'Dear Pen Pal'.

I am proud to share a letter with you from Aggie in Year 3.

Home Reading

Home Reading Update

This week, all students in Foundation, Year 1, and Year 2 will receive a ‘Take Home’ book and a new reading journal in their orange bag.

With a stronger focus on phonics and decoding in line with evidence-based teaching, we have added many new decodable books to our collection. These books help reinforce letter sounds your child already knows while also introducing extended codes—different spellings for the same sound. For example:

• ai, ay, a (as in rain, play, and apple)
• igh, i, y (as in night, fine, and happy)
• ou, ow (as in cloud and cow)

Inside most books, you will find helpful guidance notes on how to support your child’s reading. These might include:✅ A recap of sounds to practise together before reading✅ A list of high-frequency words—words that appear often but don’t always follow spelling rules✅ Discussion questions at the end of the story

Taking a moment to talk about the book can make reading more enjoyable and meaningful. You might ask, "If you were there, what would you have done to make the character feel happy?"—a fun way to encourage deeper thinking and connections.

Happy reading! 

As part of our ongoing commitment to developing strong reading habits, we encourage all students in Years 3-6 to read for at least 20 minutes each evening at home. To support their learning, all students in these year levels are currently participating in engaging novel studies in their classrooms. It would be wonderful if your child could also have another book on the go at home to complement their class reading!

Jac Morphy

Assistant Principal - Curriculum and Instruction