The Literacy and Numeracy Framework for Catholic Schools developed by the Catholic Schools Office sets broad parameters and identifies core beliefs and evidenced-based principles on which schools can base their own planning to achieve literacy and numeracy achievements for all students.
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle are communities of learning characterised by high expectations for learners to achieve excellence, academic rigour, innovation, and purpose, within environments that engage, empower, and enable (Maitland Newcastle Learning Framework 2017).
As such we believe that:
- Parents/carers are our learners’ first teachers and system, and school leadership teams work towards establishing and maintaining community–home school relationships.
- The teaching of literacy and numeracy is a core responsibility of schools.
- All students can achieve high standards in literacy and numeracy given the right time and the right instruction and support.
- High expectations and early and ongoing intervention are essential.
An effective system approach to literacy and numeracy is informed by evidence-based practice and the use of high impact strategies for the teaching of literacy and numeracy including:
- High expectations for all learners communicated through teacher talk and action and active support and encouragement for students to experiment and persist in their learning.
- Explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy skills.
- Effective assessment strategies which monitor student progress and inform future learning goals.
- Differentiated Teaching to extend the knowledge and skills of every student in every class.
- Response to Intervention providing increasing levels of support to students based on how well they respond to instruction.
- Descriptive Feedback informing students and teachers about the student’s performance that leads to achieving a learning goal.
- Collaborative Learning developing higher-level thinking, oral communication and leadership skills.
- Metacognitive Strategies and Questioning teaching students to think about their own thinking.
The Literacy and Numeracy Framework outlines the shared commitment to ensure that actions across our diocese are aligned to provide the best outcomes for our learners. Guidelines for teaching literacy and numeracy within the English and Mathematics lesson in primary and across the curriculum in primary and secondary provide system-wide guidance that describe evidence-based principles for the teaching of literacy and numeracy.
Schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle implement the NSW Education and Standards Authority (NESA) syllabus in English and Mathematics.