Literacy

Literacy

At St Carlo Borromeo, we believe every child has the right to become a confident, capable, and joyful reader and writer. We are committed to ensuring all students develop essential foundational literacy skills through evidence-based, high-impact teaching aligned with the Science of Reading. 

As a school community, we share a collective responsibility to continuously improve literacy outcomes for all learners. We meet the diverse needs of our students through explicit, systematic instruction, targeted intervention, and personalised learning pathways.

St Carlo Borromeo is committed to:

• Setting high expectations for literacy achievement and growth, guided by clear, individualised learning goals.

• Embedding a culture of best practice in literacy teaching—grounded in research, responsive to student needs, and inclusive of all learners, including those with additional learning needs.

• Fostering a classroom environment that emphasizes skill development, where students actively apply their literacy knowledge across diverse contexts, purposes, and subject areas.

• Empowering students to confidently use both traditional and contemporary digital technologies to enhance their literacy learning.

• Implementing ongoing planning and assessment of literacy instruction, guided by data and evidence of student progress, to ensure responsive and effective teaching.

• Providing continuous professional learning opportunities for educators to deepen their knowledge and expertise, leading to innovative and impactful classroom practices.

• Embedding strong literacy leadership within the school’s leadership team to promote and implement the school’s literacy policy. This includes modelling best practices, mentoring staff, and cultivating a culture of excellence in literacy. The literacy leader maintains a strong presence in classrooms, supports ongoing teacher development, and collaborates strategically with teams to drive school-wide improvement.

The literacy program at St Carlo’s is highly structured with targeted teaching using the Victorian Curriculum on a daily basis. In the year levels from Prep to Year 2 the students engage in a two hour literacy block learning and acquiring the skills for reading, writing, speaking and listening. Years 3 to 6 are required to provide a minimum of one and half to two hours of daily instruction in literacy across the school week.

A differentiated approach is necessary and specifically designed to meet all the student’s needs. The main intervention programs offered at St Carlo’s to students who require additional support in reading fluency and comprehension skills include:  MiniLit (Meeting Initial Needs In Literacy) for Junior Primary, and Macqlit (Macquarie Literacy Program), for Middle to Senior Primary. These intervention programs have a comprehensive sequence of lessons that include all the key components necessary for effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.