School Improvement Team

In line with the Department of Education’s updated expectations for early literacy, schools across Victoria are strengthening the explicit teaching of phonics. This means teaching sounds, letters, and spelling patterns in a clear, systematic sequence so that every child develops strong decoding and encoding skills.

At our school, we have been working proactively in this space. This year, Cate (Literacy Learning Specialist) and I, Chiara (Bilingual Pedagogy Leader), have focused on aligning our English phonics instruction with the teaching of Italian syllables through the metodo sillabico. This means that across Foundation to Year 2, students experience a sequenced, systematic and explicit approach in both languages, where phonics and Italian syllabic knowledge are taught in a clear, connected, and mutually supportive way. By bringing these approaches together, we are ensuring that students experience consistent, evidence-based instruction in both languages.

This alignment not only supports the Department’s priorities but also strengthens our bilingual program: helping students transfer skills across languages and grow as confident, capable readers and writers in English and Italian.

Chiara and Cate