Siena Catholic College implements a coherent, whole-school approach to literacy and numeracy. These approaches ensure consistency of practice, high expectations and sustained academic growth, while also supporting academic success in internal and external assessments.
Literacy – The Eagle and Wolf Reading Strategy
The Eagle and Wolf Reading Strategy equips students with the skills to engage confidently with increasingly complex texts across all subject areas.
Through explicit teaching of reading behaviours, vocabulary development, comprehension strategies and critical thinking, students learn to:
- Read for meaning and strengthen stamina
- Analyse, interpret and inference complex texts
- Transfer reading skills across disciplines
Our approach is intentionally differentiated:
- Cubs support junior learners to develop strong foundations in reading
- Wolves extend senior and high-achieving students through complex, challenging texts
This ensures every student is supported, stretched and confident as a reader.
Fly over the text
Scan from the sky
Stalk the structure
Visualise
Nest the essentials (summarise)
Hunt through the text
Mark the territory
(section and label)
Track the clues
(highlight and annotate)
Pounce on keywords (vocabulary)
Devour the detail
(deduce the purpose)
Look deeper into the text
Sniff out the meaning
(answer questions)
Look beyond the text
Make connections
Next hunt
Fly over the text
Preview text
Hypothesise & predict
Identify patterns, sections, structure & organisation
Visualise
Summarise
Hunt through the text (analysing)
Analyse
- ideas, themes & arguments
- mood, tone or atmosphere
- relationships
- vocabulary
- language features, textual features & aesthetic features
- similarities & differences
- the author’s purpose
Look deeper into the text
Identify a problem or gap
Evaluate the effect on the reader
Look beyond the text
Make connections
Conduct research
Numeracy – Fast Focus Strategy
The Fast Focus Numeracy Strategy strengthens students’ foundational numeracy skills through short, targeted instruction embedded within lessons. This approach prioritises:
- Mathematical fluency and automaticity
- Deep conceptual understanding
- Confident and accurate problem-solving
By building strong numeracy foundations, students are better equipped for success across all learning areas.
- Identify the key verb (e.g. calculate, explain).
- Determine what the question is asking and what information is needed.
- Underline or circle important quantities, units, and contextual clues.
- This helps focus attention and reduces misreading.
- Decide on an approach: draw a diagram, estimate, apply operations, or work backwards.
- Use the provided space efficiently.
- Organise calculations and reasoning clearly to support your answer.
- Check if the answer makes sense in context.
- In multiple choice questions, eliminate implausible options to improve your chances.