| At Thomastown Meadows Primary School, English is taught in an environment rich in knowledge, language, and meaningful texts. Through the English curriculum, our focus is to develop students’ speaking, listening, reading, writing, and thinking skills. As literacy forms an essential foundation for all learning, we place a strong emphasis in the early years on explicit, systematic instruction in core literacy skills. These include word-level reading, word-level spelling, oral reading fluency, handwriting, sentence level writing, and academic talk. As students progress through the year levels, they apply, develop, and extend these essential skills in increasingly sophisticated ways. Reading Foundation – Year 2 Students participate in InitiaLit, an evidence-based literacy program that supports the development of strong foundations in reading, spelling, and writing. This explicit, sequential, and research-informed approach builds phonemic awareness, phonics knowledge, oral language, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Years 3 – 6 Students engage in novel studies aligned with the Victorian Curriculum, providing opportunities to explore rich, diverse, and high-quality texts. This approach deepens comprehension, vocabulary development, critical thinking, and appreciation of literature. Writing Writing is taught systematically, beginning at sentence level and progressing to extended composition. Students learn to craft authentic, meaningful texts intended for real audiences, supported by explicit teaching, worked examples, and guided practice. Across the year levels, students learn to identify and use the features of a range of genres, including narrative, informative, and persuasive texts. Through our comprehensive writing programs, students develop an understanding of text organisation and structure, language features, authorial purpose and voice, sentence construction, and the conventions of writing, such as grammar and punctuation. Support Programs Additional support is available for students requiring assistance with literacy, including:
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Digital Technologies
At Thomastown Meadows, we are excited to integrate iPads and laptops into teaching and learning from Foundation to Year 6. These devices support students to:
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Capture and reflect on their learning
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Develop higher-order thinking skills
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Publish and present work
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Create digital solutions
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Collaborate with others
These skills help students thrive in a global, technology-rich world. We have an onsite technician who supports teachers and students daily to ensure devices are used effectively and are accessible to all.
Technology Use Guidelines
TMPS follows the Department of Education’s recommendations for daily technology use:
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Foundation – Year 2: Up to 15 minutes per day
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Years 3 – 6: Up to 90 minutes per day
We also prioritise cyber safety and digital citizenship, ensuring students are safe, responsible, and ethical users of technology.