Dear Parents and Carers,

In 2023, St Mary’s is implementing a school wide approach called High Impact Teaching Practice (HITP) from the Catalyst project created by Catholic Education, Canberra & Goulburn. HITP is focused on applying researched practices on how the human brain retains information. A major component of this approach is direct instruction. In 2022, three teachers successfully implemented this approach into their teaching and learning practices and tomorrow’s pupil free day will be utilised to upskill the remainder of our teachers in the pedagogy.

This year St Mary’s will implement several programs to support teachers to embed the approach into their classroom practices.

• InitiaLit (English program from Kinder to Year 2)
• Connecting Maths Concepts (Mathematics program from Kinder to Year 6)
• Spelling Mastery (Spelling program from Year 3 to Year 6)

InitiaLit is an evidence-based whole-class literacy program providing all children with the essential core knowledge and strong foundations to become successful readers and writers. The system focuses on two areas, phonics to systematically and explicitly teach the basic and advanced alphabetic code in a set sequence, and vocabulary through oral language and listening comprehension aided by quality children’s literature.

Connecting Math Concepts introduces ideas gradually and teaches students the connections between concepts. Focusing on big ideas in mathematics, the program teaches explicit strategies that enable students to master challenging concepts such as ratios, proportions, probability, functions and data analysis. Detailed explanations and guided practice enable students to progress toward independent work, helping them to achieve success and become confident mathematical thinkers.

With Connecting Math Concepts, all concepts are learned and assimilated through use. The program presents new concepts incrementally, extending them into subsequent lessons. Students move forward in small steps, learning and applying a variety of topics in each lesson. Students learn and remember more, in less time, developing the depth of understanding required for advanced mathematics. At St Mary’s the program will be implemented in the current class groups.

Spelling Mastery is a six-level Direct Instruction series that teaches students dependable spelling skills by blending three approaches: the phonemic approach, the whole word approach and the morphemic approach. Each approach has advantages and possible disadvantages. Spelling Mastery is designed to maximise the advantages of each approach and minimise the disadvantages. The program uses a placement test to understand student’s knowledge of spelling and to provide a starting point in the program. At St Mary’s students from Years 3 to 6 will be placed in appropriate groups for their knowledge of spelling. Progress monitoring is completed during the teaching of the program and students may move between groups as their spelling improves.

I am very excited about this approach in education and I am looking forward to see the growth of our students. If you have any questions about the pedagogy and the programs we are implementing please don’t hesitate to contact the school for further information.

Kind Regards,

Phil Nielsen