Literacy at EEPS
At Eltham East Primary School, literacy forms the foundation for lifelong learning and success.
At Eltham East Primary School, we are committed to a structured literacy approach in teaching reading, writing, spelling, speaking, and listening. Our explicit and systematic instruction ensures that all students build strong foundational skills for literacy success and lifelong learning. Through engaging lessons, students develop essential literacy skills while fostering curiosity, creativity, and a love for learning.
As a school community, we celebrate literacy year-round through initiatives like the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge, Book Week, and our regular Authors at EEPS publication, which shares and celebrates student writing. These events bring literacy to life and emphasise its importance in our daily lives.
Students engage in English through a structured Literacy Block, which is tailored to each year level while maintaining key common elements. These include word reading and spelling (drawing on resources such as Little Learners Love Literacy and PhOrMeS), reading fluency, handwriting, sentence-level writing, and reading and language comprehension. As they progress, students develop their ability to plan, draft, and refine texts across a range of genres, strengthening both their technical skills and their confidence as writers.
Our reading approach is guided by the Big 6 of Reading, which provides a strong foundation for literacy. Students develop oral language skills to enhance communication and understanding, phonological awareness to recognise and work with sounds, and phonics to connect letters and sounds for reading and spelling. They build fluency by improving accuracy, speed, and expression, expanding vocabulary to support reading and communication, and strengthening comprehension to understand and critically evaluate texts.
In Prep to Year 2, students focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding, gradually progressing to more complex texts. Decodable readers and authentic texts build fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Writing lessons develop handwriting, sentence construction, and foundational writing skills, with a strong emphasis on oral language development.
In Years 3 to 6, students deepen their knowledge of spelling patterns, morphology, and etymology, while enhancing their reading fluency and comprehension. Writing lessons focus on paragraph and text structures, enabling students to create detailed and cohesive texts. Grammar, syntax, and speaking and listening activities further refine their literacy skills.