At St Pius X we are committed to ensuring that from the moment children begin school, they engage in exceptional learning in the subject of Literacy.  In 2019, we invested in a Reception to Year Two whole-class Literacy Program named, InitiaLit. This is a research initiative of Macquarie University which is based on 30 years of research undertaken by members of the MultiLit Research Unit. Since the inclusion of the program, we are observing our students thrive with their reading, writing, spelling and communicating skills.

Our Year One students begin each day with an ‘On the Mat’ session. The teacher explicitly teaches reading, writing and spelling. Following the whole class session, the students participate in independent work and group activities. These include a range of activities which consolidate learning where the teacher has an opportunity to work with small groups and individual students. Finally, the students engage in a Storybook session. This provides opportunities for students to develop oral language, vocabulary and comprehension. Our teachers monitor student process by regularly completing assessments.

Results
After engaging in the InitiaLit program in Reception, our current Year One students started this year confident and competent.
The data below represents student progress and compares InitiaLit assessments for each child in a Year One class. The first assessment was completed at the beginning of Term 1. The second assessment was completed at the beginning of Term 2. The second assessment was similar to the first, but included specific elements of reading, writing and spelling that the students had been focusing on.