Hands On Heads Literacy Coaching 

Dear Principals,

Is your literacy strategy actually changing what happens in

 classrooms?

I often meet Principals who know their school needs to strengthen literacy outcomes, but are surprised by how much variation still exists across classrooms and year levels.

You might have a literacy strategy, quality resources and professional learning in place- but if teachers aren't working from a shared understanding of effective practice, it can be difficult to create lasting change.

Here’s where strategic literacy coaching can make a real difference:

 Consistency of Practice

Different approaches to reading, writing, vocabulary and explicit instruction can mean students experience a very different literacy education from one classroom to the next.

Example: Your Year 5 and Year 6 teachers may both be committed to improving literacy, but their literacy blocks, instructional routines and expectations look completely different. Your Year 7 and 8 teachers are teaching quality literature, but neglecting the literacy and language components of the curriculum.

Creating clarity around what is taught, how it is taught and what consistency matters provides a stronger foundation for improvement.

Building Teacher Capacity

PL is important but knowing something and consistenly applying it in practice are two different things.  

Example: Teachers may have participated in PL around explicit instruction, vocabulary, reading or writing, but still feel unsure about what this looks like in their everyday classroom practice.

Instructional coaching bridges that gap through modelling, observation, feedback and ongoing support. 

Taking from PL to sustained professional practice.

 Sustainable Literacy Improvement

Literacy improvement shouldn't depend on the next initiative, resource or one passionate middle leader.

Sustainable improvement comes from building leadership capacity, teacher knowledge and consistent systems that support better practice over time.

Planning your literacy priorities for 2027?

You don't necessarily need another initiative.

You may need greater clarity about what matters most, a strategy for implementation and support to build teacher capacity along the way.

Book a Literacy Strategy Call to explore what this could look like in your school.

As always,

To your literacy success,