St Paul’s Catholic School recently welcomed Her Excel­lency, Governor of Tasmania, Barbara Baker AC and her husband, Professor Chalmers to view the literacy initiatives that are having a big impact in the school. They both undertook a tour of the school grounds accompanied by the School Principal, Jo Clark, speech pathologist, Rosie Martin, and the School Captains, Arden and Anabel.

The staff and students had the opportunity to show Her Excel­lency and Professor Chalmers some of the initiatives in the classroom such as phonolog­ical and phonemic awareness approaches and individual speech work, led by the school’s para-professional Louise Mor­gan. The approaches include InitiaLit in the Early Years, the Orton-Gillingham approach to literacy across all year levels, as well as a number of interven­tions to cater to the needs of the students. All students across the school receive daily doses of phonological and phonemic awareness through explicit teaching. The tour concluded in the school’s newly built Early Learning Centre, where the kindergarten and Ludo children were absolutely fascinated by Her Excellency as the represen­tative of the Queen.

St Paul’s Catholic School staff work tirelessly to ensure students receive the targeted assistance they need. Jo Clark explained “Every teacher is part of the collaborative approach and it’s making a big difference to literacy across the school.” The teachers are grateful to have Speech Pathologist Rosie Martin support them during these programs and individual speech and language assess­ments. Renae Millikan is the Literacy Practice Leader at St Paul’s and ensures the pro­grams and initiatives are collab­orative and effective, and that all teachers are involved. Renae works closely with Jo Clark, Learning Support Coordinator Anne Duigan and other mem­bers of staff to provide extra help to students when need­ed. Jo also stated, “It’s about working together for the best outcomes for our students and we are very proud of the results so far.”