During Independent Reading, the staff at Melrose are committed to conducting individual reading conferences with students. Conferencing enables teachers to understand and formatively assess who their students are as readers and to support students to identify, set and monitor their reading goals. It is an expectation that staff are recording their conference notes and are prepared to share, moderate and refine their conferencing in future professional learning sessions.

During task time, the staff at Melrose facilitate guided practice with a group of students whilst the remainder of the class engage in independent practice. A range of approaches to guided practice are implemented at Melrose to cater for the diverse needs of our learners. Teachers provide authentic tasks for students to complete during task time, when they are working independently. Students are supported to select tasks that will give them an opportunity to practice their personal reading goal or the lesson success criteria.

Fountas and Pinnell (F & P) is the summative Reading assessment administered school wide.

The F & P benchmark assessment is conducted twice a year, at the end of Semester 1 and Semester 2. Student F & P reading levels are displayed on our whole school data wall in the upstairs professional learning space and are recorded by staff on our Student Management System (SIMS).

The Reading Correlation Chart can be utilised to convert the PM and Lexile levels of students to their F & P equivalent.

In Foundation, students receive daily phonics instruction.

Our Foundation teachers utilise a multi-sensory approach to teaching phonological awareness.

Students learn sounds through the use of songs, stories and actions which supports their development as beginning readers.

Foundation students are assessed on their ability to articulate the sounds that letters make and are given differentiated tasks to complete that align with their point of need.