Reading, Writing & Communication
At Osbornes Flat Primary School, we believe strong Literacy skills open the door to success across every area of learning. That’s why Literacy is at the heart of everything we do.
We are deeply committed to ensuring our students become confident readers, writers, and communicators. Our dedicated teachers continually invest time in understanding and applying the most effective, evidence-based strategies—guided by the Science of Learning and Cognitive Load Theory—to support every learner. Through explicit and engaging instruction in Reading, Writing, and Speaking and Listening, we empower our students to thrive both in school and beyond.
Learn about our approach
Writing
At Osbornes Flat Primary, we use The Writing Revolution 2.0 to offer our students a structured, and evidence-based approach to the learning of writing, ensuring that writing skills are deeply embedded in content instruction. Rather than teaching writing in isolation, writing is integrated into subject areas like science, history, and numeracy to reinforce both writing skills and content knowledge.
Key strategies include explicit instruction in:
- Sentence-level skills (e.g., using conjunctions, appositives, and sentence combining)
- Paragraph construction
- Planning techniques for extended writing
Our students are explicitly taught to work through the Writing Process, writing for a purpose and for an identified audience.
The stages of writing students are taught about include:
- Planning and Brainstorming – the generation of ideas and planning
- Drafting – students begin writing their first ‘rough copy’
- Revising – refining content and the structure of their piece
- Editing – improving grammar, spelling, and ensuring clarity
- Publishing – students choosing an appropriate means of producing a final copy to present
Speaking & Listening
At Osbornes Flat Primary School, developing strong oral language skills is a key focus across all year levels. Students are regularly given meaningful opportunities—both structured and informal—to strengthen their speaking and listening abilities in a range of learning contexts.
From their first year of school, children take part in the consistent use of turn and talk and language experience, being strategies that encourage verbal interaction and attentive listening.
As students’ progress, they learn how to:
- Use body language to support clear communication
- Adjust their tone and volume to match different audiences and purposes
- Engage in productive discussions and deliver presentations with confidence
These experiences are further enhanced through targeted activities that include feedback from teachers and peers.
This helps students grow in confidence and develop the communication skills needed to express themselves effectively in various situations.
Learn more about our specialist programs