SCHOOLS

Word wise: Aimee Dugon, left, Jordan King and Ruby Wright-Howie, all aged seven, immersed in a book with assistant principal Heather McIntosh. Picture: David Geraghty

School results spelling out a sound approach

Lisa Macnamara

December 09, 2005

FOR Bellfield Primary School students Jordan, Aimee and Ruby, the federal Government's plan to reintroduce phonics-based teaching is no revolution.

The three Year 1 pupils are among the young pioneers at the north Melbourne school that introduced the back-to-basics reading method a decade ago.

Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson yesterday unveiled a plan to spread the concept - based on the traditional relationship between sounds and letters - throughout Australia.

Under his proposal, parents will be offered reading workshops to help their children develop literacy skills, and schools will be urged to embrace back-to-basics teaching based on phonics.

One of the key recommendations of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy report, commissioned by the Government and released yesterday, is the reintroduction of phonics as the foundation of reading, writing and comprehension.

In an encouraging sign for Dr Nelson, Bellfield principal John Fleming said the result of reintroducing phonics was startling.

"If we look at our Grade 3 statewide testing this year, it shows the average kid at Bellfield is at the top of the state," he said. "And the weakest-performing kids are at statewide benchmarks, so as a whole cohort we have moved our kids up."

The school's teachers educate their pupils by breaking down words and writing them on flash cards for the students to practise each day - something that helps Aimee Dugon, 7, with her after-hours reading.

"Most of the time when you read, your mums and dads have headaches or something and they can't help you," she said. "It gets easier as you learn, and I've been getting much better because I've got a lot of books at home and I read them a lot."

Mr Fleming introduced the phonics method when he became head of the school 10 years ago. At the time, 80per cent of the students were failing statewide benchmarks.

"We needed not to work harder, we just needed to work smarter," he said.

US and British studies also showed the method was the way to go.