The Department of Education is committed to developing the literacy skills of students from an early age. From 2023, the new Phonics Initiative requires all public schools with primary aged students to:

• provide an early years literacy approach that includes planned and structured teaching of phonics
• have access to a quality-assured set of Department-endorsed resources, including evidence based instructional practices, curriculum aligned phonics programs and assessment tools to monitor, assess and support early intervention
• confirm at Semester 2 census that Year 1 students have undergone a phonics assessment by mid-Year 1, which identifies their progress against the Department’s expected proficiency.

At Piara Waters Primary School, we implement the Heggety Phonics program from Kindergarten to Year 2.

We will provide an update to year one parents regarding the Phonics Screen in 2023.