‘RADICAL’ METHOD GOOD FOR A SPELL
Sebastian might only be fiveyears-old, but he’s taking part in a curiously advanced learning system that will see him reach academic records far above the national average.
As Australia grapples with a nationwide literacy crisis, the boys at The Southport School (TSS) are among the few students recording higher than average results for reading and writing.
And according to Jeff Symms, deputy headmaster and head of preparatory school at TSS, the upward turn in results is because he got rid of the school’s spelling curriculum 15 years ago in a move that was labelled “radical” by veteran teachers at the time.
“We don’t have a spelling program,” Mr Symms said.
“Instead we teach orthography which is the study of the spelling structure of a language. It’s about empowering our boys to know exactly how their language works.”
It comes as a report by the Grattan Institute revealed last month that one-third of Australia’s four million students are failing to read proficiently.
However since 2017, TSS NAPLAN results for Year 3 and 5 consistently scored
“well above” the national average with Year 7 and 9 generally scoring ‘above’ the average.
While most Australian schools teach ‘whole-word’ spelling which teaches kids to recognise words and their associated pronunciation, TSS uses the Teaching Handwriting, Reading And Spelling Skills (THRASS) system to break down words using phonemes (speech sounds) and graphemes (spelling choices).
TSS Prep teacher Kerrie Lesko said shifting from whole-word learning to phonics was a struggle for a lot of veteran teachers at first.
“I went through that generation of teaching whole language learning. We didn’t even learn about phonics when I went through school,” Ms Lesko said.
“But now we’ve all embraced it. The more we teach it, the better we get at understanding the English language as well, so it’s just positive for everyone.”
Mr Symms said the school no longer teaches common
“spelling rules” either.
“Like ‘i’ before ‘e’, except after ‘c’ which actually doesn’t apply for a lot of English language words,” he said.
“And so students learn for example how to differentiate between when to use the letter ‘f’ versus ‘ph’ as in ‘phone’.
“English is not a linear language that has ‘rules’ because it borrows so many words from around the world.”
Ms Lesko added: “I would absolutely recommend THRASS to other schools.”
“It can seem a little overwhelming, but it’s a great tool for all children to learn how to read, write and spell effectively.”