Structured literacy is based on 50 years of scientific research aimed at better understanding why some children are able to read and write easily while others find it more challenging. The basis of the Structured Literacy Programme is to develop children’s phonological awareness. They learn how to decode individual letter sounds and then put them together to read/write whole words. This is called segmenting and blending. This leads to an understanding of how each letter is correctly sounded and then recorded, which in turn supports ongoing spelling acquisition, writing fluency and confidence.

As a school, we have put considerable resources into purchasing books to support our whole-school Structured Literacy.

For some of our students this means traditional readers are not sent home as they might have been in the past. Instead, new Ministry of Education structured literacy reading books and other support material to help with the ongoing learning process are given to children to share at home.

In partnership with professional development facilitators Learning Matters Ltd, our Literacy Leader, Jude Tabuteau leads our literacy teaching and learning programmes across the school.

Windy Ridge School holds parent information sessions to help educate parents and whānau to understand more about Structured Literacy.