English

Read, Write, Spell, Imagine!
Developing confident readers, writers, and spellers who love to explore ideas.

In English, students learn how language and texts help them understand themselves, others, and the world around them. Through reading, writing, speaking, and listening, they build confidence, creativity, and communication skills.

Students explore many different kinds of texts — stories, poems, plays, and media — from Australia and around the world, including works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. These texts help them appreciate different cultures and ways of thinking.

• Reading: Students read a range of texts, from stories to information books and digital texts. They learn to find key ideas, make predictions, and discuss what they read with others.
• Writing: Students learn to plan, write, and edit their own pieces, such as stories, persuasive texts, and reports. They develop ways to express ideas clearly and creatively.
• Speaking and Listening: Through class discussions, presentations, and storytelling, students learn to share ideas and listen respectfully to others.
• Digital Literacy: Students learn how to use technology safely and effectively to read, research, and create their own digital work.

As students progress through school, they build stronger skills and learn to use language thoughtfully and confidently in all areas of learning.

Kindergarten - Year 2

In K–2, students participate in the InitiaLit program (Initial Literacy), a research-based, whole-class literacy program developed by MultiLit. InitiaLit provides systematic, explicit instruction in:

• Phonemic awareness
• Systematic synthetic phonics
• Reading fluency
• Vocabulary development
• Comprehension strategies
• Spelling and sentence-level writing

Students engage in daily structured lessons that include direct teaching, guided practice and cumulative review to ensure strong skill development and retention. The program carefully sequences learning so students build automatic decoding skills, develop reading fluency and gain the confidence to compose simple and increasingly complex texts. Rich literature is also incorporated to foster a love of reading from the earliest years.

Stage 2 (Years 3–4)

In Stage 2, students engage with NSW Department of Education English units that integrate reading, comprehension, grammar and writing into purposeful learning sequences. These units:

• Use high-quality mentor texts
• Explicitly teach language features and grammar
• Develop comprehension through questioning and text analysis
• Strengthen writing through modelling, guided practice and feedback

Students explore a range of text types, including narratives, informative texts and persuasive writing, while learning to plan, draft, edit and publish their work.

Spelling in Stage 2 is taught through the SpellEx program. SpellEx focuses on morphology (prefixes, suffixes and base words), etymology (word origins) and spelling patterns. This deeper understanding of how words are constructed supports vocabulary growth, spelling accuracy and reading comprehension across all learning areas.

Stage 3 (Years 5–6)

In Stage 3, students continue to learn through NSW Department of Education English units designed to extend higher-order thinking and analytical skills. Students:

• Analyse increasingly complex texts
• Examine author intent and language choices
• Develop critical thinking and inferential comprehension skills
• Craft structured and cohesive texts for a variety of purposes and audiences

Grammar and language conventions are explicitly taught within meaningful reading and writing contexts to strengthen clarity, cohesion and sophistication in student writing.

Spelling is taught using the Soundwaves program, which is based on a phonemic approach to spelling. Students explore sound–letter relationships, word origins and word structure. The program strengthens students’ ability to spell unfamiliar words, recognise patterns and apply strategies independently in their writing.