March 12, 2014
South Burnett child care educators, educational leaders and primary school teachers have been undergoing special training recently as a result of a successful grant application under the Queensland Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) Community Action Grants Program.
Mid-last year, representatives from a number of local childcare groups met and decided to apply for the funding. Late November, they were advised they had received a grant of $20,000.
Under the program, the South Burnett Child Care Association, working with the Kingaroy Early Years Network, has aimed to implement a number of strategies to address community vulnerabilities.
Mailouts have been sent to all families in the region with hints and tips on topics such as healthy lifestyles and language development.
Professional development sessions have also been organised for childcare educators.
One goal was to upskill all childcare educators with the Let’s Read program, which they can then pass on to parents.
On Wednesday, February 20, 60 educators attend an information session with Col Sutcliffe, the State co-ordinator for Let’s Read. Those who attended can now complete a two-hour online training courses to be an accredited Let’s Read Deliverer.
Col is very passionate about providing the education and tools to parents to get them to read to their children.
From newborns to 18 months, there is a steep learning curve for learning language.
In an ideal world, a child should hear 2000 hours of reading/stories/music/nursery rhymes before starting school. Sadly some children only receive 25 hours!
Some childcare centres are planning to adopt the Let’s Read program within their services, but to get the optimum results they need all children being read to. The Let’s Read motto is “Anywhere, Anytime”.
On March 4, the educators enjoyed a session with speech pathologist Wendy Richardson, who last year commenced a mobile service between Brisbane and Kingaroy as part of her private practice.
The 18 educators received some intensive speech/language training.
Wendy has worked in large cities, regional centres, and rural and remote communities in three different states.
In 2004, she organised and led a delegation of Speech Pathologists, teachers and parents, on behalf of Speech Pathology Australia, to both the Federal and State Education Ministers to raise significant concerns about the teaching of literacy in schools.
As an outcome, the Federal Minister instigated a National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy and Numeracy.
Speech Pathology Australia subsequently appointed Wendy to its eight-member National Literacy Consultative Group to advise government.
