The Inner Northern Melbourne Early Language and Literacy Community of Practice (INMELLCoP) was set up in late 2019 to bring together Teachers, Speech Pathologists, Psychologists, and others with an interest in helping schools in the Cities of Yarra, Darebin and Moreland teach early literacy using approaches that are consistent with the best available scientific evidence.

It is also an opportunity to share experiences, resources, ideas, and build local networks. This is a volunteer-run, non-commercial, informal group, but doesn’t have its own website yet, so is using a page on the Spelfabet website.

Our geographical focus is the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne, and specifically schools in  the Cities of Darebin, Moreland and Yarra. We initially had in-person meetings at the Spelfabet office, and in 2020 ran a survey of local schools asking about early literacy programs and intervention practices, with generously-donated prizes (thanks, Nessy and Little Learners Love Literacy!). Two of the lucky winners are pictured above, and the list of winners is below.

The COVID pandemic then threw lots of spanners in plans to get INMELLCoP going again, but we do plan to reconvene once we have extra energy for more than just survival, later in 2022.

The 2020 INMELLCoP survey winners were:

3 Nessy School Licenses:

  • Kate Lynn, St Joseph’s School, Northcote
  • Megan Robertson, Westgarth PS
  • Charlene Stewart, Reservoir East PS

$480 worth of Pip and Tim books:

  • Gail de Bartolo, St Fidelis Catholic PS, Coburg.

24 Spelfabet word-building card games:

  • Kerrie Campagna, St John’s School, Clifton Hill

Spelfabet Teacher/Clinician kit:

  • Sotiroulla Kyprianou, Wales St PS.

Spelfabet Phonics Playing Cards:

  • Annemarie Honeybone, Reservoir West PS

Nessy books: Understanding Dyslexia:

  • Thomas Hardisty, Westgarth PS, Northcote,
  • Helen Kooloos, Clifton Hill PS,
  • Kim Kim Chau, Wales St PS, Northcote.