It has now been over a year since we have made changes to the way we teach reading to our early years students at Star of the Sea. Our initial concerns about the number of children at our school requiring target support in reading called us to investigate what the current research was telling us about reading. We recognized, along with some other schools already in our system, that there was a better, evidence based way and we endeavoured to explore and implement it with the support of a Literacy and Dyslexia consultant, Linda Clune, from Fullarton House.

Teachers engaged in professional learning, new decodable readers were purchased and a structured phonics program was introduced. We have used a more targeted and relevant diagnostic tests to better inform us about the students reading abilities and implemented Heggarty’s skill and drills program to improve phonemic awareness in the classroom.

We held an informative and well received R-2 parent meeting in Term 1 outlining the phonics program, the big change from levelled readers to decodable texts and explained our three tiered intervention program to support students who are struggling with their reading.  It is important to note that the change from levelled readers to decodables was a significant one in terms of resourcing costs and a change in mindset for staff, parents and students. The research on this is so clear – reading the pictures is not reading. Reading the words is. In the junior years students could have relied on this method however there is no way a struggling reader will ever find success in the later years if this was their only way of reading for meaning. We are also now very focussed on reading fluency. This relies on the students ability to decode and comprehend at the same time. Repeated reading (of a text that is appropriate) is the most effective approach to reading fluency. At Star of the Sea we have identified the crucial aspects of reading development and our learning programs in R-2 now address these components explicitly in the classroom. They include :

• Phonological awareness
• Letter sound knowledge
• Decoding
• Reading fluency
• Language comprehension

Tier 1 work is what is currently being done in the classroom. Teachers explicitly teach sound/symbol relationships in a structured sequence. There are no gaps. Decodable readers that go home are only ever on the sounds that the students have been explicitly taught. Students and classrooms will still have other rich language texts – poems, class novels, picture books, non-fiction books that the students will be read to or have access to however readers that go home and teach reading explicitly will be appropriately selected by the teacher. Daily Heggarty drills will be taught and practised weekly.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention support will be a more intensive version of what is being covered in class. All students will be screened with a DIBELS test which will identify those students requiring extra support.  Students who score significantly low in the five aspects listed above will undergo another screening test, YARC, that assesses single word identification, accuracy, reading rate and comprehension. If a student is 6 months or more behind, Tier 3 intervention will be suggested. Currently Linda and Allison (both teachers) and Libby, Jacinta and Leanne (ESO’s) work with these students either one to one or in pairs using the Playberry intervention model. The comprehensive training was scheduled for April however when the COVID-19 pandemic hit it was cancelled. The staff received a modified training session with Bill Hansberry to initially start the intervention and we are pleased to say that the full three day course has been approved to go ahead in July. We will be sending two teachers and three ESO’s.

Moving forward, we need to continue to purchase more resources to slowly build our stockpile. Kelly Manera and Linda Clune are in the process of finalising our scope and sequence (week by week, sound and spelling rule) for Reception to Year 2 so that the sequence is clear for all. Kelly Manera is also currently working on a policy document outlining the phonics content sequence, assessment protocols, guidelines and implementation timeline as well as outline the specifics on the intervention procedures (criteria for selection, how long for, when a child is deemed to come off and how, data collection, reporting to parents, further follow up requirement etc). It is to be noted that any child who receives tiered support will be monitored yearly until they graduate in Year 6. This term we will also continue professional learning for staff on a Monday if required.

To date we have received positive feedback from staff about the growth they have already seen in their students, increased confidence in our students who have previously struggled and some solid improvements in some aspects of the DIBELS testing from last year compared to this year. Parents have shared their appreciation of the changes and how their children are now talking about spelling rules and sound blends with confidence. We have come a long way in a year with more work to be done but we are confident in our decision to address our initial concerns about reading. We believe this approach will capture all students from those who find reading easy to those who experience difficulty. This targeted direct approach leaves nothing to chance and the evidence tells us spelling and reading ability will improve as the years go on.