Learning Innovation

St Mary’s College strives to ensure enriching learning environments for all students. In the early years teaching staff strive to understand their students and how they learn by designing and delivering creative and engaging learning tasks. This includes incorporating and responding to students’ areas of interest and experience. This also includes introducing different forms of responding/representing student learning. Students’ academic strengths and capabilities are acknowledged and nurtured by our experienced early childhood educators.

Students who require more opportunities to practice and consolidate oral language and/or literacy skills are nominated for the following intervention programs:

LanguageLift is an early intervention program designed to be delivered to a small group of children in years Pre Primary and Year 1 who would benefit from additional support in the development of their oral language skills. Teachers work with small groups of children and deliver carefully structured lessons, incorporating stories and materials to engage and encourage oral language.  

MiniLit 

MiniLit is an intensive, effective early literacy intervention program for small groups, offered in Years 1 to 2. It is a synthetic phonics- based program aimed at students finding reading and writing difficult. Within the program, students are taught to identify all 44 sounds in the English language and use the sounds to read and spell with accuracy.