Through a comprehensive, structured, and student-centred approach, we provide opportunities for students to connect their literacy learning to their own lives, interests, and experiences.

In Early Childhood, our focus is on oral language development, providing a solid foundation through phonological awareness, and engaging play-based learning experiences. Students learn through games, storytelling, and imaginative play, which encourages them to use language in authentic ways as well as build social skills. Students explore nursery rhymes, repetitive stories and develop oral narrative skills through our evidence-based writing program, Talk for Writing. As students move to Pre-primary, they begin their reading journey through our structured synthetic phonics program, Sounds Write.

In Junior Primary, students continue to build their understanding of letters and sounds using Sounds Write, whilst also developing spelling and grammar through explicit teaching. The Talk for Writing approach helps students internalize language structures, patterns, and vocabulary by focusing on oral storytelling and discussions before moving on to writing.

In upper primary, we shift towards more advanced literacy skills, including complex spelling patterns and grammar concepts, while continuing to reinforce vocabulary building and background knowledge. Talk for Writing remains an essential part of our program, alongside enriching novel studies that foster critical thinking and a love for reading.

Halidon caters for diverse learning needs, and we offer support in a variety of ways. Our MiniLit program is a structured, evidence-based literacy intervention designed to support students who require additional support with reading. These small-group sessions are held in our dedicated MiniLit classroom and focus on developing skills in phonics, vocabulary and reading fluency.