Literacy

At Gladesville Primary School, we nurture a love of literacy through structured, knowledge-rich learning experiences. We believe that strong literacy skills deepen our understanding and enjoyment of the world, and empower us to actively and confidently engage in society. Our literacy lessons teach students the essentail skills of reading and writing along with vital speaking and listening skills.

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We are a Science of Reading (SOR) school and use a structured literacy approach. The Science of Reading (SOR) refers to an enormous body of research into how the brain learns to read and the best ways to teach reading to ensure the best outcomes for all students. We are currently building a knowledge-rich curriculum and explicit literacy instruction across all year levels.

 

At GPS we explicitly teach children how to decode (read) and encode (spell) using an evidence-based scope and sequence, ensuring children develop literacy skills for future academic success. Using evidence based theories such as Scarborough's Reading Rope (2001) and the Simple View of Reading (1986, 1990) we understand that there are several key components of reading, which we incorporate into the way we teach reading:  

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1. Oral Language

2. Phonological Awareness

3. Phonics

4. Vocabulary

5. Fluency

6. Background knowledge

7. Comprehension

8. Morphology 

9. Etymology

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Throughout their primary years, students at Gladesville PS explore a wide range of reading topics such as ancient civilisations, modern history, Australian democracy and Greek mythology. These engaging and knowledge-rich units are designed to give students a strong foundation for understanding the world, and preparing them to confidently tackle complex texts and ideas in high school and beyond. We also incorporate regular picture book and novel studies to enhance reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills, while also fostering critical thinking and empathy.​

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At Gladesville Primary School, we implement The Writing Revolution, which is based on the Hochman Method, to guide our writing instruction. This evidence-based method helps students develop strong sentence-level skills, expand their vocabulary, and organise their thinking through explicit teaching and scaffolded practice. By building from simple to complex writing tasks, we empower all learners to become confident, effective communicators across all subjects.

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The Writing Revolution (TWR) approach, builds writing skills progressively—from sentences to full compositions—and is embedded across all subjects and year levels. We use rich content—both fiction and non-fiction—to design integrated units of work around common topics. Through The Writing Revolution, students learn the essential writing skills needed to become confident writers. These skills also support reading proficiency, effective communication, and critical thinking.

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Using TWR at Gladesville allows us to teach content and writing together. We understand that explicit writing instruction must begin in the early years, and that strong sentence-level writing is the foundation for all written expression. When writing is embedded within curriculum content, it becomes a powerful tool for learning.

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Handwriting is explicitly taught as a fundamental skill at Gladesville PS. Daily practise builds muscle memory of the skills, so that handwriting becomes automated to free up working memory for developing ideas, spelling and text structure, and increasing the quality of their content.​​

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