Background:

In 2006 the Rotary Club of Bacchus Marsh and the Shire of Moorabool agreed to fund the first two stages of Let’s Read which was to be delivered by the Child and Maternal Health service. It was decided to trial the program as a result of discussions with local infant teachers who expressed concerns about rising numbers of children entering school with low readiness to read. Learning readiness is helped immensely when children are introduced to books at an early age.

In 2008 as a result of enthusiastic acceptance of the program by parents and children, the Shire of Moorabool agreed to extend funding assistance to stages three and four of Let’s Read.

What is the ‘Let’s Read’ program?

Let’s Read is a pre-school, early intervention literacy program designed to prepare children for the formal process of learning to read and therefore learning in general. It was developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital in partnership with the Smith Family.

At four key stages: ages 4-6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 3½ years a free picture/story book is given to parents when they bring their children to visit the health nurse. Accompanying the book is a list of further titles to purchase or borrow from the library. An important component of the program, which differentiates it from any which may be similar, is a DVD where well known actors model effective ways to share reading time with children. This assists parents who may not have learnt the techniques from experience.

Partnerships:

• The Smith Family
  Books and materials are purchased directly from the Smith Family. They also offer training and ongoing support for program delivery.
• The Shire of Moorabool’s Child and Maternal Health Service
  Our health nurses do an outstanding job of driving the program locally. Happily, Let’s Read fits perfectly with an existing program called Best Start. Best Start is an early intervention project that aims to improve the health, development, learning and wellbeing of all Victorian children from pregnancy through to approximately eight years of age.
• The Shire of Moorabool
  The Shire has become an important contributor to the funding of the Let’s Read program.
• The Bacchus Marsh Library
  The library stocks picture book titles from the book lists and copies of the DVD.

How much does it cost?

• For the entire program of four stages the current cost per child is under $40.
• We distribute books and the DVD to a minimum of 250 new babies, at stage 1, each year.
• We now distribute books, each year, to children at stages 2, 3 and 4.

We appreciate the $4,000 per year which will be donated by the Shire for the next three years and have managed to seek further sponsorship from local sources. Peter and Bernice Clark of Peter Clark Builders, the Bacchus Marsh Medical Centre, in Turner St, and the Elms Family Medical Centre have contributed generously to the first three years of the program. The balance is raised by fundraising activities organised by the Rotary Club of Bacchus Marsh.

Outcomes:

• Maternal and Child Health have created an evaluation questionnaire which is conducted verbally with parents in the four CMH clinics: Gell St, Darley, Ballan and Bungaree.
• Results of the evaluation survey, which has gathered information from 324 families since the program began, are collated and submitted to the Smith Family for their records.
• The responses from parents are very positive with comments such as, helped me to know what to do with my child when reading, encouraged me to say nursery rhymes with my child, I visited the library, I had fun with my child.
• The Bacchus Marsh library, has lent Let’s Read DVD 140 times since the program began.
• Investment benefit should start to be evident at kindergarten and prep grade by 2009-2012.

To Summarize:

We are pleased with the results to date and Maternal and Child Health nurses report increased attendances at key health assessment ages. We are encouraged to believe that learning outcomes will be improved for our children by giving them the best start! Reading confidence, which is fundamental to all successful learning, will lead to improved educational prospects and better health and wellbeing throughout life.

If you have a particular interest in the development of literacy you may wish to donate a small amount or contribute annually. Please direct your enquiries or donations to:

The President
Rotary Club of Bacchus Marsh
P.O. Box 61
BACCHUS MARSH 3340