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Literacy & Numeracy
Literacy
At St Peter’s, we understand successful and continued literacy development for all students relies on the highest quality of teaching practice in this area. Literacy learners are provided with a supportive learning environment, developmentally appropriate learning experiences and engage in a range of highly effective instructional strategies. Our teaching approach is based on understanding the development of literacy acquisition, including responsive literacy learning pathways. These are based on student needs, skills and strategies, catering for diversity in learning. St Peter’s Literacy teaching approach incorporates a broad range of teaching pedagogies, balancing the use of structured explicit strategies with student-centred, authentic learning experiences. All literacy teaching and learning includes modelled, shared, guided and independent learning activities.
Numeracy
St Peter’s strongly affirms that in all areas of schooling, students who self-discover connections in their learning make their learning more meaningful and retainable. In numeracy, we are transforming our lessons from “mimicking lessons” to “thinking lessons.”
Staff are regularly trained by Numeracy Leaders and Catholic Education officers in current numeracy practices. At St Peter’s, we are implementing lessons that follow a “Launch, Explore, Summarise” approach. Teachers cleverly Launch a problem or scenario, students are given time to Explore and this is followed by a teacher-led Summary. These lessons are designed to encourage students to make the mathematical links prior to being explicitly shown by teachers. Again, we are aiming to provide “thinking lessons” in numeracy. In conjunction to this, we also see value in explicitly teaching mathematical skills and processes.
St Peter’s is extremely well-resourced with an array of hands-on numeracy resources. These are kept in a central hub in the school and teachers are aware of the available resources.
Classrooms are well-equipped with an array of hands-on numeracy materials. Students from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 6 have regular access to Mathematics resources kept in their classrooms.
Students in Junior Primary are provided with a “Take Home Maths Pack” with materials such as dice, playing cards and counters. With instruction and guidance from the classroom teacher, these packs promote mathematical fun and reinforcement in the home.
