Many of you may be aware of last week’s release of ‘Now I don’t know my ABC’, a report on the state of literacy in our country, published by the ‘Education Hub’ think tank.

The report focuses on the decline in students’ literacy levels, as measured by international assessments and New Zealand national monitoring data. It also references wider societal factors that have influenced the decline, which are relevant to take into consideration.

At Rāroa we are committed to raising achievement in literacy and believe it is relevant to share some of the aspects of our literacy strategy.

• Literacy development is written into our Annual Plan and forms part of our strategic focus under the umbrella of curriculum development - Quality teaching and Learning.

• We believe that teachers who have a high level of knowledge and understanding of all the dimensions of literacy, run the most effective classroom programme. Hence we are investing heavily in teacher professional development. This is supported by specifically assigned Ministry of Education professional development funding.

• Intensive interventions are in place for key students who need more support.

• Literacy is essential and integrated into all curriculum subjects. Students are involved in engaging learning experiences of other subjects that they find motivating, to help build literacy skills.

Early in term Term 2 we will share achievement data for Literacy. This often paints a positive picture of our achievement here at Rāroa and also acknowledges the amazing work of our contributing schools.