At Dandenong North, we have the belief that being literate is the foundation for a successful future. Utilising the Victorian Curriculum, teachers plan rigorous, intensive lessons that cater to individual differences developing students’ speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Explicit teaching is employed at all year levels as the most effective teaching approach and our students undertake no less than 10 hours of Literacy instruction per week.

Literacy forms an essential foundation for all learning and we place a strong focus in the early years on explicit, sequential instruction of core literacy skills. These include word-level reading, word-level spelling, oral reading fluency, handwriting, sentence-level writing, and academic talk.

As students progress through the year levels, they apply, develop and build on these foundational skills. They are exposed to a wide range of reading materials and employ sophisticated techniques including Reciprocal Reading to develop a student’s literal and inferential comprehension.

Foundation to Year 5 uses the ‘Talk for Writing’ process, where emphasis is placed on children learning to orally retell different text types using story maps and physical actions. We encourage the children to use expression in their retells and we use these models to create class and independent text innovations. Parents can help their children learn the text maps at home, in preparation for the continued development of student writing.

The 6+1Traits is a research-based writing process that focuses on developing students' writing through the 6 traits and the subsequent key qualities underpinning each of these traits. Students build on the structural knowledge of text types from previous years and develop their independence of the writing processes from drafting through to publishing.

To support the educational growth of individuals in the Domain of English, we provide the following intervention programs to meet the specific learning needs of our students:

• Reading Readiness: Foundation students who require extra support in preparation for reading are provided with this program to develop and strengthen their pre-reading skills.
• Reading Intervention: Provided for eligible students in Foundation to Year 3 to attend an intervention program that assists those who are not achieving at expected levels. This Reading Intervention Program is intensive and individualised, and it accelerates student development through daily participation.
• The Speech Therapy Assistance Program: All students who require assistance with speech development have the opportunity to participate in this program. Selection for this program is made by our on-site Speech Pathologist.
• Each classroom utilises Educational Support Staff, who have been trained to assist teachers with the implementation of their Literacy Program.

We aim for all our children to have high level Literacy skills that allow them to experience success and to reach their full potential within and beyond the school gates.