Throughout 2024, Warners Bay High School remained committed to targeting skills based on NAPLAN item analysis data, including reading and comprehension, inference, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Each KLA explicitly taught literacy skills within the context of their subject areas and integrated explicit reading lessons within the delivery of regular curriculum content. Additionally, the Literacy team worked towards facilitating discussions and visits with our local primary schools regarding the implementation of new syllabus and literacy programs to work towards consistency in the delivery of lessons and developing a shared language that will ultimately support and improve the transition process for students from Stage 3 to Stage 4.
Explicit Teaching of Reading
The 2024 NAPLAN results indicate continued improvement in reading, with more than two-thirds of Year 9 and Year 7 students in the top two Proficiency Bands - Exceeding and Strong. WBHS has maintained a clear focus on improving reading skills throughout 2024, with teachers prioritising the explicit teaching of reading in Stage 4 and Stage 5.
Super 6 Reading Strategies
Super 6 Reading strategies continued as a whole-school initiative to improve reading across all years and KLAs in 2024 at Warners Bay High School. These cognitive and metacognitive strategies assist students in understanding what is being read and can encourage students to actively engage with the text, think critically about topics, and promote deeper understanding of the material. Students apply the reading strategies when engaging with a variety of texts across all subjects and teachers have consistently embedded these processes into their quality teaching and learning programs, developing a shared language and approach to support all students when reading unfamiliar or unseen texts.
Explicit Teaching of Writing
The 2024 NAPLAN results indicate continued improvement in writing, with more than two-thirds of Year 9 and Year 7 students in the top two Proficiency Bands - Exceeding and Strong. WBHS has maintained a clear focus on improving writing skills throughout 2024, including school-wide paragraph scaffolds across all KLAs that promote a shared language and consistency in structure to enhance cohesion when writing.
Positive Student Growth
Our explicit approach to writing and offering timely and specific feedback to students on their work is leading to excellent results in NAPLAN, with 2024 Year 9 writing scores soaring above both SSSG and State measures.
Additionally, our commitment to explicitly teaching reading and writing at a whole-school level is evident in NAPLAN's Value Added measure from Years 7-9, indicating that students at Warners Bay High School are continually improving their Average Reading scores.
Improved student performance in literacy remains a key focus in the Warners Bay High School Excellence Plan 2024-2027. Our committed approach to explicitly teaching reading and writing skills at a whole-school level reflects our understanding that all curriculum areas have a responsibility for the development and use of discipline-specific literary knowledge and skills.
