Early Years Literacy Development

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Literacy Introduction

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Year 6 Writing Competition

Template: Primary School Reading Coaches

Template: Year 6 Writing Competition

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Books for Kids

Baden Powell College (BPC) (City of Wyndham) has students from Prep to Year 9 from over 60 different language groups from 40 different countries.
Significant levels of poverty prevent many families from providing reading material at home.
Many parents have English as their second language and are not confident or literate in the English language.

When BPC tried to purchase reading material in dual languages, it found such material difficult to source.
It had also been difficult to engage parents, especially women from refugee backgrounds, in activities held at school.

Wyndham Rotarians worked with BPC teachers, senior students, and parents from refugee backgrounds to purchase, translate and prepare picture storybooks in languages that support Early Years Literacy Development in students.
Picture storybooks were translated into Dinka (a Nilotic dialect cluster spoken by the Dinka people, the major ethnic group of South Sudan).
Wyndham Rotary also obtained a District Grant to replicate this project and translate picture storybooks into the other five major languages that prevail across the College.

The project has seen parents engage positively with a school activity, building trust with teachers.
A bond has also been formed across the various cultures, and now a Library of Languages is available for parents to borrow books so that they can read short stories to pre-school children at home, as well as support their children already attending school.
Parents have connected to Rotary and are able to see how best Rotary can support marginalised families in our community.
Supporting early literacy development in young children in local communities could be a wonderful opportunity for Rotary and beneficial for other schools.