What is Literacy?

Literacy is essentially a capacity for making meaning. It involves the ability to read, view, speak, listen to, and write for different purposes in a range of situations. Students become literate as they develop the knowledge and the skills to use and interpret language confidently and competently.

Literacy is fundamental to a student’s ability to learn at school and to engage productively in society. It is not a subject in its own right. Instead, it is central to all learning areas. 

Although the foundations for literacy can be said to be primarily developed in the early years of schooling, literacy is explicitly taught, emphasised and developed throughout Kindergarten through to Year 12. 

In the secondary years, students need to develop and demonstrate increasingly sophisticated literacy capabilities. The teaching and the learning of literacy are integral to the teaching and learning of subject knowledge and skills. In addition, each subject has its own literacy requirements which students need to master if they are to maximise their achievement in that subject. 

Parents are a vital component of the literacy learning process. Parent engagement in learning is known to lead to improved outcomes for students of all ages. The role of parents and other adult caregivers is therefore crucial. Connecting learning at home and learning at school in the form of a literacy partnership is an exciting initiative at Mount Carmel. The Mount Carmel Home-School Literacy Partnership is a commitment to joint action in which parents and teachers work together to improve student learning outcomes. 

As part of this literacy partnership, the college is committed to the following:

• engaging with parents and families to explore ways to support learning at home 
• providing development and training opportunities that bring teachers and parents together in order to enhance partnership capacity 
• providing resources and opportunities to support and facilitate home-based learning
• proactively communicating and discussing students’ progress with parents 
• integrating family engagement into curriculum planning 

Parental engagement strategies which lead to positive student learning outcomes include:

• having high aspirations for your children
• the privileging of books and reading for pleasure
• shared reading experiences
• participation in parent workshops and literacy conversations 
• establishing reasonable screen time boundaries 
• having rich and regular parent-child conversations
• communicating to your children the value of education
• positive parent-teacher relationships
• active engagement in the college community

As the Literacy Instructional Coach, I will be communicating with parents and caregivers regularly throughout the year. I encourage you to contact me if there are any questions or concerns regarding literacy and learning. 

Mrs Clare Murphy

English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach