Literacy in school years

Learning to read is a skill that needs to be taught. It is not something we are born knowing how to do.

Your child is learning to read in an explicit and structured way. Teachers are using evidence-based strategies so your child learns in ways that are proven to work.

Teaching literacy

Our approach to teaching literacy is structured, evidence-based and explicit.
That means teachers use strategies e based on research about the way that children and young people learn to read. Each skill is taught explicitly, and students have regular opportunities to watch, learn and practice before they learn the next skill.

• Structured: We teach reading in a way that builds on what students already know. This means starting with the basics and gradually moving to more complex skills. Each new skill connects to what they’ve already learned, helping them become confident readers.
• Evidence-based: Teachers teach in ways that we know will work because they are supported by training based on academic research about how children learn.
• Explicit: Teachers show students how to do something, they explain their thinking and give lots of examples. Students first watch the teacher do it (“I do”), then practice together (“We do”), and finally try it on their own (“You do”). Teachers give students feedback and make sure students really understand before moving on.

The Big Six

The foundational literacy skills students learn at school are sometimes called the ‘Big Six’.

1. Oral language means listening to, speaking and understanding the sounds that we use to make words and meaning. This is something young children begin to do before they start learning to read.
2. Phonological awareness is recognising specific sounds in our speech. This is another foundational skill that a young child begins to learn before they learn to read.
3. Phonics is the word to describe the relationship between the sounds in speech and the letters used when writing those sounds.
4. Vocabulary is learning the meaning of a word, remembering the meaning and being able to remember and read that word in the future. We are always learning new words and growing our vocabulary. This is a skill that everyone continues to learn.
5. Fluency is being able to understand the meaning of words and sentences at the same time as the child is reading them. Fluency takes practice. It brings phonics and vocabulary skills together to understand what is written.
6. Comprehension is when a child uses their phonics, vocabulary and fluency skills to understand what they are reading. Comprehension becomes more challenging when the topic and vocabulary are not familiar.

These six skills are the building blocks for reading. If a child has trouble with one of these skills, they will have trouble reading. Our teachers use quick in-class checks to find out which skills each student needs more help with. These checks also help teachers know when students are ready to learn the next skill and move on with their literacy learning.

Published August 25, 2025