At Hampstead School, we are committed to providing high quality learning opportunities by providing two hours of Literacy instruction per day. 

One of our main aims is to encourage a love of Reading to all of our students. We are part of the Duffy Book Scheme, that gifts our children with quality reading books to share with their families. We also have the opportunity to meet Duffy ambassadors that share lessons with us about how Reading has helped them in their lives as well as visits from the Duffy Theatre.

We have a beautiful school library run by Mrs Ritchie that the children visit weekly and choose books of their choice to take home.

We started our Structured Literacy journey in 2020. All of our Year 0-2 teachers have been trained in delivering the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA), which covers all areas of early literacy such as; phonological awareness, phonics and spelling rules and patterns, oral language, reading and writing. In addition, listening and comprehension skills are developed through high quality picture books shared with the class. More information can be found here: https://www.betterstartapproach.com/families.

Last year, we began the process of extending our Structured Literacy plan throughout the school with the Year 4 teachers delivering Literacy through the iDeaL approach, building on the skills the children have learned through Year 0-2. This has now been extended through the senior school. More information can be found here: https://www.learningmatters.co.nz/knowledge-hub/

Our children receive explicit and consistent teaching instruction ensuring students are comfortable, confident and secure in their environment removing barriers to learning. Our Literacy approaches follow a clear scope and sequence with ongoing monitoring of your childs progress and development. Our tamariki transition from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’, making connections between Reading and real life. They are reading to gain new knowledge, to experience new feelings, to learn new attitudes, and to explore issues from one or more perspectives.

Through whole class, small group and individual approaches alongside fun, interactive, game based activities, reading books, and chances for rich vocabulary learning, we aim to provide our children with solid literacy skills, setting them up for success in all areas of the curriculum.

At Hampstead School, we provide a range of opportunities for Writing throughout the curriculum, again through whole class and small group approaches. We have dedicated writing times, Spelling, Handwriting and writing through our Inquiry and integrated learning units. Our Junior school have a large focus on letter formation, through Casey Caterpillar, oral language and simple text elements, while the Senior school focus on larger writing elements such as structure, punctuation, grammar, text genres and spelling.