Learning

Deputy Principal/Learning and Teaching Leader

 - Ms Bridget Morris

Literacy Professional Development Day

On Monday, our staff took part in a full day of professional learning focused on strengthening how we teach and assess reading across the school.

We explored the idea that reading is made up of many important skills working together. One helpful way to understand this is through Scarborough’s Reading Rope, which shows how areas like phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension are all woven together to support strong reading. When one strand needs support, it can impact overall reading development.

Teachers were also introduced to DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), a set of short, targeted assessments that help us identify how students are progressing in key reading skills. These assessments give us clearer insight into each student's strengths and areas for growth, allowing us to target our teaching more effectively.

We are excited about the impact this work will have on student learning and look forward to continuing to build strong, confident readers across our school.

Skilled reading is made up of many interconnected skills, as shown in Scarborough’s Reading Rope.

Victorian Premiers Reading Challenge

Our students have been enthusiastically participating in the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge, and it’s been fantastic to see such a strong love of reading across the school.

So far, our students have collectively read an incredible 365 books - a wonderful achievement! We’re especially proud to celebrate three students who have already completed the Challenge, demonstrating outstanding commitment and a real passion for reading.

Even more exciting is the number of students who are on the verge of finishing, with many close to reaching their reading goals. We’ve also had many students sharing recommendations and reviews of their favourite books.

It’s not too late to join in!

All students are encouraged to take part, every book counts, and it’s a great way to build reading habits and confidence.

We look forward to celebrating even more milestones in the coming weeks!

Inquiry

This term, students across the school are exploring our Inquiry unit My Story, Your Story, Our Story. Through this unit, students are learning about identity, culture and perspective, and how our personal, family and community stories shape who we are. We are developing an understanding of empathy, respect and the importance of celebrating diversity within our school and the wider community.

As part of this learning, we are excited to be holding a Cultural Diversity Day on Thursday 21 May, where students will have the opportunity to share and celebrate the many cultures, traditions and stories that make up our school community. We look forward to a day of learning, connection and celebration.