We are using ‘The Better Start to Literacy Approach’ (BSLA) to teach early literacy in the Tūī and Kiwi Syndicates.

This approach has been developed by the University of Canterbury following years of research on the best ways to support children’s early reading, writing and oral language success.

Children who progress off the scope of BSLA are moving onto ‘The Code.’ This is a systematic approach to continuing to develop phonological awareness and spelling patterns.

Children are taught phonological awareness skills including identifying letters/sounds, segmentation of decodable words, blending and manipulation of sounds. This approach improves efficiency in learning and promotes a self-teaching approach where children can apply their knowledge and skills to a range of new words.

Traditional approaches to learning to read and write that rely on the memorisation of sight words are not used in this approach. High-frequency words that are not decodable are learned through repetition and frequent exposure to early texts. Our neurodiverse and young learners can feel successful from the beginning of their schooling because they will learn how to break and make words at the phoneme (individual sound) level. It’s a bit like a codebreaker!

Whānau engagement is critical to the success of this approach. Early next term (date to be confirmed in the next newsletter), we will be holding an information session to explain more about this approach and how you can support learning at home. Updates on the target sounds and words will be shared each week, via Seesaw.

This approach has been extensively trialled in schools across New Zealand and has been proven to be successful in maximising children’s opportunities for early literacy success. We are excited to monitor the success of this approach within our school.

For more information, please visit: https://www.betterstartapproach.com/families

Or contact Karen Overell (BSLA Facilitator) or your child’s teacher