Learning and Teaching

Green Team New

The Green Team gathered in Brendan’s Garden on a beautiful, sunny Friday afternoon, full of excitement and ready to get started on their tasks. We are very fortunate to welcome another adult helper to the team, with Jess Young, mother of Ida, Daisy and Dulcie, kindly offering to work with the children on Friday afternoons. With our group now growing to over 30 students, it is wonderful to have another enthusiastic gardener supporting the children in the garden.

The students worked in three groups, rotating through different activities. One group harvested tomatoes, which continue to grow in what feels like never-ending abundance! Another group potted up kalanchoe cuttings. Kalanchoe is an easy-to-grow succulent with thick, fleshy leaves and vibrant clusters of long-lasting pink flowers. These drought-tolerant plants make excellent ground cover, and we hope to plant them in the centre garden bed to add colour and texture.

The third group planted snow pea seeds in compostable pots. Once established, these seedlings will be transferred to the garden beds in autumn. With a little care and patience, we are hoping for a late autumn and winter harvest.

The attached photos capture the students’ enthusiasm and pride as they planted, sowed and harvested in Brendan’s Garden.

Learning to Read and Write at St Brendan’s

Learning to read is an amazing achievement for children, but unlike learning to walk or talk, reading does not develop naturally. While our brains are wired for spoken language, reading and writing need to be carefully taught and practised over time. Reading is a complex skill that involves understanding how sounds, letters and words work together. English is a rich language that has grown and changed over hundreds of years, with words influenced by Latin, Greek and many other languages. Because of this, learning to read and spell requires clear and structured teaching.

At St Brendan’s, we explicitly teach students how to decode (read words) and encode (spell words) using an evidence-based scope and sequence.  Our Foundation students have made a fantastic start to their reading journey this year. Already, they have learned 11 letters and can identify the difference between vowels and consonants. They are also learning high-frequency words, including recognising the “tricky” parts of words that cannot always be sounded out and need to be remembered. With these skills, many students are already able to write simple three-letter words such as mat, sat and fin, and are beginning to read short decodable sentences.

We use decodable readers that match the letters and sounds students have already been taught. This allows children to confidently decode (sound out) words and blend sounds together using the phonics skills they are explicitly learning in class. We use decodable readers instead of predictable readers, which often encourage children to guess words using pictures or context. By learning to rely on their phonics knowledge, students develop accurate reading habits and build strong, independent reading skills that will support their long-term success.