Learning Partnership
This Week's Learning Bulletin: READING
Learning to Read is a Complex Process
Reading is not as simple as learning sounds and then putting those sounds together to read words. English is not a fully phonetic language, so we need to explicitly equip children with a range of strategies to make sense of print. Education trends come and go, and currently the buzzword associated with reading is the Science of Reading. However, some confusion has developed, with its five key components - phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension - sometimes being treated as a simple checklist completed in a set order. Learning to read is not that linear or simple.
For beginning readers, using pictures is also crucial. Images provide context, support prediction, and help children make meaning before they even read the text. Children then cross-check their predictions with the print, using their developing phonics knowledge and ensuring that what they read makes sense when they say it aloud.
Phonics knowledge is essential for helping children decode written words, but being able to decode does not automatically mean a child understands what they are reading. Comprehension requires a different set of skills and strategies, including building background knowledge, making inferences, asking questions, monitoring understanding, and integrating information across a text. These processes work together to ensure reading is not just accurate, but meaningful.
At Armadale Primary School, we are proud of our evidence-informed approach to reading, grounded in the Science of Reading principles. Our pedagogy reflects a comprehensive and explicit approach, with the goal of developing confident and skilled readers who love reading.
We actively promote a comprehensive reading model, which includes:
- Reading by your child – when your child practises applying decoding and comprehension skills independently.
- Reading with your child – shared reading experiences that build fluency and understanding.
Reading to your child – where listening to fluent, expressive reading helps build vocabulary, comprehension, and a love of literature.
This approach is supported through our Reading at Home program, which encourages daily reading practice. Each student receives an Armadale Primary School Reading Journal to track their reading, reflect on their learning, and celebrate their progress.
What Do We Teach in Reading?
Our classroom reading program is built around three essential pillars:
1. Decoding
Phonics and phonological awareness (including segmenting and blending sounds) are key to helping students tackle unfamiliar words. We use the Letters and Sounds program to explicitly teach and reinforce these skills in a structured, cumulative way.
2. Comprehension
Making meaning is at the heart of reading. Our students learn and practise a range of comprehension strategies such as:
- Activating prior knowledge
- Predicting and inferring
- Asking questions before, during, and after reading
- Summarising and synthesising
- Visualising what they read
3. Fluency
We have added fluency to our instructional model, aligned with the science of reading principles. Reading fluency is the ability to read text accurately, at a natural pace and with expression. Fluent readers sound natural and can focus on understanding the meaning of the text rather than decoding every word. At the beginning of each lesson (about 5 minutes), students take part in short, focused practice to build reading fluency and confidence. For example, the fluency session might focus on developing automatic recognition of letters and sounds, strengthening phonics skills, building phonological awareness, and practising expressive oral reading by noticing punctuation.
Reading fluency is essential for comprehension. Our instructional model – whole, small/individual, whole – ensures every child reads aloud with a teacher each week. During this time, teachers monitor:
- Oral reading fluency
- Phonics knowledge
- Application of comprehension strategies
This consistent and targeted approach supports each student’s reading development in a personalised way.
Exceptional Results Continue to Shine
We have had a sneak peek into our 2026 NAPLAN reading results, and once again our students have achieved exceptional outcomes.
These results continue to reflect the strength of our research-aligned, structured reading approach and the shared commitment between school and home in supporting every child’s learning and growth.
Enjoy reading this week’s Bulletin entries as it offers you a glimpse into how children from P-6 develop and strengthen their ability to read.
Connie Apostolos
Assistant Principal