Better Start Literacy Approach raises achievement for all students

Marian Meehan is the principal of Khandallah School in central Wellington. The school began using the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) in 2021 after Meehan researched potential programmes to meet the changing literacy needs of junior students.

“We are seeing more children starting school without basic literacy skills compared to 10 or 20 years ago and as the needs of our learners and our community change we need to evolve too. Schools can’t stand still.”

Meehan says she sett led on the BSLA as it ‘came out of the University of Canterbury, was developed for Aotearoa New Zealand students and teachers, and was very well researched’. Since introducing BSLA, the reading, writing, and oral language skills of all students involved in the programme have significantly improved - including those for whom English is a second language.

“We have children who after a term (of doing BSLA) are writing sentences of well-constructed words and can sound out words like enormous or amazing.”

Meehan says Khandallah School has a diverse community of students and a lot of variation in levels of reading, writing and oral language skills on starting school.

“The Better Start Learning Approach meets the needs of our diverse population.”

She says a key part of the approach’s success at the school is the involvement and committ ment of all junior teaching staff.

“My whole junior teaching team have done the training. They did it together and, while it was a lot of work, they have supported each other and learnt together.

The ongoing support provided by the BSLA team is also comprehensive; a support person based at the university and a local expert to help problem solve or answer questions.”

Meehan says while the programme does require time and energy to embed, ‘when you have children in their first year confidently reading and writing, it feels worth it and you know they can only grow from there’.

In the past year Meehan says she and the school’s leadership team have made a point of acknowledging and celebrating the eff orts and success of teachers and students involved in the Better Start Literacy Approach.

Meehan says online and hard copy resources provided with the programme are comprehensive and relevant for New Zealand students. The resources are funded by the Ministry of Education.

“All the books and learning resources are based in New

Zealand and have recognisable vocab such as puku and kai. They are beautiful and te reo is threaded throughout.”

Online assessments done on iPads engage students and allow teachers to easily identify next steps for each child, Meehan says.

BSLA also provides information to help parents and whānau feel involved and understand what their child is learning, Meehan says.

“Each BSLA book has information at the back to show what students are learning and how it fi ts with their growing skills in literacy.”