Dear Parents and Carers,

Over the last couple of weeks I have had some inquiries about the High Impact Teaching Practices (HITP) that St Mary’s is implementing. HITP is part of Catholic Education, Canberra & Goulburn’s Catalyst initiative. Informed by the Science of Learning and Science of Reading, Catalyst delivers excellent learning experiences for students through evidence-based teaching practice and high-quality resources.

• High expectations for learning
• Impactful teaching practice
• Equal opportunity classrooms
• Increased knowledge building engagement in learning
• Focus on “learning”
• Improved retrieval of learnt content

Obviously, this explanations barely scratches the surface of the approach in action. For more information I encourage parents to go the following website https://catalyst.cg.catholic.edu.au/.

The 3 key programs we are implementing to support HITP are InitiaLit (Kinder to Year 2), Spelling Mastery (Year 3 to 6) and Connecting Maths Concepts (Kinder to Year 6). The fourth program we are investigating is Reading Mastery (Year 3 to 6).

If you require more information or wish to discuss any of this content further please contact me at school.

Regards,

Phil Nielsen