The MACS vision for reading instruction is for every student to commence school with access to a high-quality, evidence-based literacy program. Staff spent a day learning about Playberry-Laser, which will be implemented as our multisensory literacy program from 2025.
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) Vision for Instruction outlines the importance of evidence-based instruction in making an impact on learners. Throughout 2024, our school has been implementing evidence-based instructional strategies across the curriculum, and particularly in English and Mathematics.
From 2025, all teachers will implement the Playberry-Laser T1-2 program, which features four areas that are identified in the Vision for Instruction:
- Phonemic awareness
- Phonics
- Fluency
- Vocabulary
Sarah Battistella worked with leaders, teachers and learning support officers to explore how Playberry-Laser works.
This program provides teachers and learners with an explicit, systematic and structured way of learning about the English language. Our professional learning reminded us about the schwa and introduced many of the staff to the breve and macron.
There were also many opportunities to put teaching strategies into practice, with all staff engaging with whiteboard routines, turn-and-talk partners and non-volunteers.
As the first MACS school engaging with Playberry-Laser, we're excited to be offering a program that engages a number of language elements that make a quality multisensory literacy program. The way that this program is structured allows every learner, from Prep to Year 6, the opportunity to explicitly learn about the English language, whether that's through phonics or morphology. Introducing Playberry-Laser will ensure we can deliver excellent teaching at a Tier 1 level, while being resourced to provide extra support to learners who need it at a Tier 2 level.
The Playberry-Laser literacy program is one part of the English teaching sequence, which will also include knowledge-rich units of work to help with comprehension of rich literature and a refreshed writing program.
Prep and Junior learners will engage with English teaching at the start of the day, from 8:45am, and Middle and Senior learners will have English timetabled mid-morning.
MACS's 'Vision for Instruction' is very clear in how we need to deliver the best educational outcome for every student in our care. We have had great success in implement evidence-based instruction in Mathematics this year and teachers have noted the growth that learners have made in their mathematical knowledge. This positivity about evidence-based, explicit, structured instruction, along with a well-designed multisensory literacy program, puts us in good stead for another year of amazing English learning in 2025 where every learner has the chance to flourish.
