At Mount Blowhard Primary School a back to basics focus on the science of teaching and learning is reaping rewards for its young pupils and putting the school in the spotlight of education professionals across the state.
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The small school north of Ballarat, with just under 80 pupils, is at capacity as word spreads of its approach.
This week the school will host 38 professionals from all educational sectors who will watch how teachers implement the science of learning, the science of reading, structured literacy and explicit direct instruction in the classroom.
"We use what science and evidence currently tell us about best practice in teaching and learning," said principal Robert Walsh.
What that looks like for children in the classroom is teachers explicitly explaining concepts to children, who use whiteboards to write down answers so the teacher can check for understanding.
"We aim for any lesson of more than 80 per cent of kids to get it, and if they don't you reteach in the moment," Mr Walsh said. "We are checking for understanding all the time."
Each lesson also includes "retrieval practice" where previously taught concepts are revisited, and there's a return to phonics and other conventions of language.
"Some schools might do subtraction in a block for one week, or focus on a concept, then not go back to it. For us, 20 minutes of that maths lesson daily is going back over old learning," Mr Walsh said.
"You won't see little groups working, you will see the whole class receiving explicit instruction."
Mr Walsh said educational research had shown that children need to be "directly taught biologically secondary skills".
"Speaking is by its nature biologically natural, but reading, writing and maths is not and have to be taught explicitly over and over again."
This approach, he said, was the most equitable for all students.
"With other approaches you might get 70 to 75 per cent of kids to read, this gets up to 95 per cent," he said.
"We are just showing what we think it best for all children, the most equitable approach. It's pretty low variance and doesn't leave much to chance, it's very systematic."
Mr Walsh said some people would say it's a return to rote learning and kids would be bored, but that was not the case as surveys of the students showed they felt stimulated and had high learning results.
"If they have success, kids feel good," he said.
Children transferring to Mount Blowhard from other schools quickly pick up the new approach and make gains in phonics, spelling, reading and other concepts.
On Thursday, educational professionals from 12 schools will spend time in the Mount Blowhard classrooms to better understand how to implement the approach in their own schools.
Schools from across Ballarat, Torquay, western Melbourne, Merrijig in north eastern Victoria and schools from all education sectors have shown interest or will be part of the day. Department of Education representatives, speech pathologists and ACU will also attend.
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The open day was so popular Mr Walsh had to cap numbers and there's a waiting list for professionals to take part.
"Schools have a thirst for the science of learning at the moment but it's hard to get your head around until you see what it looks like in a classroom, and that's why they are coming here," Mr Walsh said.
"We are not experts, we are just a bit further down the track than some. You can talk about it or hear about it, but this gives schools the opportunity to come and see it."
The open day is part of Read Ballarat who conduct events for teachers each term that highlight the latest research and best practice related to reading, teaching and learning.
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