From the Leader of Pedagogy

Welcome back to another exciting term at St Mary's! It has been wonderful to see everyone back and engaged in learning across the school. 

Big Write and Talk Homework

This Term we are continuing with our weekly Big Writes across the school. Big Write is a special time in the week where the students show off and celebrate all the skills they have been learning in writing that week. It has a special atmosphere to promote calm and creative writers and encourages students to reflect on their learning and how they can improve.

Part of the Big Write process is Talk Homework. Talk homework is sent home each week and is an important part of the writing process for all students. Discussion, oral rehearsal and time to organise ideas are important steps in the writing process. If they can’t say it, they can’t write it. 

Students take home a slip with the topic and genre each week and are encouraged to talk with family members about the topic and gather ideas and language. There is no need to write notes or write a draft of the story. We encourage this time to be specifically focused on talking. Students can chat with any adults or older siblings in your home. Talk homework is revisited on the morning before the Big Write.

Please see the example below so you know what to look out for on Talk Homework day.

Talk homework is sent home on the following days:

Tuesday: Year 5 (Big Write Thursday)

Wednesday: Years 3,4,6 (Big Write Thursday)

Thursday: K-2 (Big Write Friday)