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Early Childhood Services
We are Nat and Sarah, passionate literacy specialists supporting early childhood services to playfully develop preschool literacy skills through our EARLY YEARS COACHING PROGRAM.
This program provides playful and explicit modelling of early years literacy skills, alongside customised workshops and online learning modules to build your professional skills.​
Already signed up to our online coaching?
The Program
Our EARLY YEARS COACHING PROGRAM supports early years teachers to build professional knowledge in evidence based literacy practices.
Our program is organised into three parts:
+ Onsite Coaching
+ Onsite or Online Workshops
+ Online Learning Modules
Onsite Coaching
Our onsite program is designed for teachers to build their professional skills. Our carefully designed lessons are inclusive and uses evidence-based instructional practices that are supportive for all children. Our fun and engaging program playfully supports preschool children to develop strong oral language, including phonological awareness, vocabulary and background knowledge.
We chose to develop our phonological awareness-based program for preschoolers because research shows that starting early and using evidence-based literacy practices is key to giving children the best chance at develop strong early literacy skills.
Workshops
We offer five workshops across 20 weeks, tailored to the needs of your service. We unpack current literacy practices, staff knowledge and confidence, evaluate data collection practices and establish planning protocols related to emergent literacy teaching and learning.
Online Modules​
Our online learning modules unpack the evidence for teaching emergent literacy, provides tips, tricks and tools for teaching each aspect of the phonological awareness continuum and research aligned strategies to support building vocabulary and background knowledge and story sequencing.
This EARLY YEARS COACHING PROGRAM is specifically
designed to meet learning outcomes and practice principles of the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework including:
+ Outcome 2: Children are connected with, and contribute to, their world
+ Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
+ Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
+ Transition: A positive start to school
FAQs
Who is the program for?
This program is designed to support Service leadership, centre directors, nominated supervisors, teachers and educators. It provides comprehensive professional development alongside a playful children's program.
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Is the program evidence-based?
Yes! We are passionate teachers trained in evidence-based literacy practices and we use this knowledge as the basis for all our teaching, coaching and programming.
Our EARLY YEARS COACHING PROGRAM is aligned to the Science of Reading which is a vast body of research that informs how proficient reading and writing develops.
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According to this research the six essential skills required are:
+ Oral Language
+ Phonological Awareness
+ Phonics
+ Vocabulary
+ Fluency
+ Comprehension
Oral language and phonological awareness along with vocabulary and oral comprehension form the basis of our EARLY YEARS COACHING PROGRAM.
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Is the program fun?
Sure is! ​
Children and staff say they “LOVE!” the “hilarious and fun” games and activities. “The children couldn’t wait to see (our mascot) Mim the Monster each week”.
While we are intentionally teaching crucial phonological awareness skills, our program delivery is steeped in the philosophies of playful learning.
Each session incorporates targeted phonological awareness, vocabulary and oral comprehension activities.
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SailAway teachers deliver a fun and engaging 30 minute program each week (for up to 14 children per group). Early childhood staff participate in these session to build their skills and to develop coaching questions to unpack during live workshops.​
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How is the program structured?
20 Week Program
This comprehensive professional development program supports early childhood staff to build their professional knowledge through a coaching model.
10 Week Program
This program is designed for Services that already have deep knowledge and practical skills for evidence based literacy practices in early childhood.
How much does the program cost?
