Literacy and numeracy are foundational skills for the subsequent development of more complex skills. They underpin workforce participation, productivity and the broader economy, and can impact on social and health outcomes. At WBHS, supported by teacher professional learning, we are building teams to develop school wide and KLA specific strategies to support the growth of Literacy and Numeracy skills in all students.
In Literacy
Our top highlights were:
Explicit Teaching of Literacy
At the start of 2020, Deputy Principal Mrs Libby Guider began to develop her instructional leadership role in Literacy.
Through this role, all teachers are supported to implement effective teaching strategies to improve students’ literacy achievement, providing subject specific support as appropriate to the literacy requirements of each discipline across the curriculum. Implementation of explicit teaching strategies is monitored and evaluated in faculties based upon student achievement data, fostering a culture of challenge & support in student learning. Whole school focus areas are identified for each year group in reading and writing, based upon student performance in school-based & external assessments. The process of explicitly teaching and embedding these skills into teaching programs, supported by an evidenced based program of differentiated professional learning supports this. For example, in 2020, this included professional learning on maintaining a focus on reading, especially important when supporting students to manage learning online. Teacher workshops deconstruction NAPLAN questions were delivered with the focus on raising teacher understand the literacy demands and level of difficulty of NAPLAN reading questions and how to provide explicit support to students to enable the progression of their skills.
In Numeracy
Our top highlights were:
Explicit Teaching of Numeracy:
The Numeracy Team continued their focus on supporting whole school improvement of numeracy through explicit teaching of problem solving. Through the vision that numeracy knowledge and skills provide students with the foundations for current and future learning and participation in the workplace and wider society, teachers have engaged in embedding numeracy opportunities in teaching and learning programs across all Key Learning Areas. With a focus on applying numeracy skills to unfamiliar, multi-step, word-based problems, teachers have implemented the WBHS CUBES Numeracy Problem Solving strategy. Based on Newman’s ‘Five Steps to Problem Solving’, the CUBES strategy provides students with a scaffold to understand ‘what they need to do’ and ‘how to do it’, in order to improve their outcomes when problem solving and working mathematically.
The Warners Bay Community of Schools participated in an online professional learning session to support consistent approaches in Numeracy problem solving across Stages 3 and 4. The workshop focused on the CUBES strategy and its implementation across the primary school to support numeracy problem solving improvement and effective strategies for transition from primary school to high school.
Numeracy Assessments
2020 Check-in Assessments – Numeracy
Students in Year 9 completed Check-in assessments in 2020 as NAPLAN Assessments for Years 7 and 9 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall cohort performances indicated that students achieved above state levels for numeracy achievement with greatest strength shown in the Number and Algebra strand questions. Students also participated in numeracy assessment through Best Start Year 7 and HSC Minimum Standards, generating valuable data to inform differentiated teaching practices.
