(Photo: Nanango Electorate Office)
September 17, 2014
The youngest children in the South Burnett will have more help to learn what they need to succeed at school, with $132,753 over four years given to local libraries as part of the State Government’s Best Start initiative.
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington said this week the State-wide program, to be delivered through public libraries, would give families the information, skills and tools they need to help their children develop early language and literacy skills at home.
“The results are clear,” Mrs Frecklington said.
“Just 10 minutes of reading by a parent each day can give their kids the start in life that they need.
“This program helps parents of very young children know what they need to know to help their kids do well at school.”
Arts Minister Ian Walker said Best Start had come from four years of practical research and evaluation of family literacy practice in public libraries.
“In the 2012 Australian Early Development Census, Queensland ranked sixth out of the States and Territories for overall early language development,” Mr Walker said.
“Research shows that if kids start school behind the eight ball, they think ‘I can’t learn well’, disengage and don’t achieve as much as they could.
“This is an evidence-based plan that will help Queensland kids learn at least the minimum amount of words in vocabulary by school age, which experts say is a range between 500 and 5000.
“Some parents need help to be confident readers, others a reminder that story time is an important part in our long and busy days.
“The Best Start program will help our kids and parents be the best they can be.”
