Thursday, 31 October 2024

Brandon Park Primary School

Eden FOSTER (Mulgrave) (10:15): Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Brandon Park Primary School in the Mulgrave electorate to attend their annual literacy open morning. This event draws educators from across the state, and in some years it has even drawn participants from other parts of the country and overseas. It is no wonder, as Brandon Park Primary has an outstanding literacy program called PhOrMeS, which has led to great academic achievements for its students. PhOrMeS, developed by the school’s speech pathologist Shane Pearson, is a structured phonics-based approach that is making a real impact. I would like to extend my appreciation to Shane, principal Kate Buck and the incredible teachers at Brandon Park Primary School for their commitment to this program.

As a former school psychologist, I know the importance of evidence-based practice, and I know that phonics-based teaching works. That is why the Allan Labor government’s new Phonics Plus program, a comprehensive evidence-based approach for teaching reading in the early years, not only supports teachers by reducing their planning workload but also improves students’ reading skills and overall learning outcomes, just as we have seen at Brandon Park Primary School – and a big shout-out to all the students at Brandon Park Primary School for welcoming me to their school last week.