Raising Literacy Australia Reading Pack program.
South Australia – statewide.
December 26th 2023
Raising Literacy Australia Incorporated
100b Fullarton Road, Norwood South Australia 5067 (enter off of Polomka Lane). PO Box 147, Kent Town, South Australia 5071
RLA is a not-for-profit organisation committed to enriching lives through literacy. Through universal and targeted programs, we support families to read, talk, play and sing with their children from birth; providing books and resources to nurture young children’s development and information for parents to encourage rich home learning environments; and professional learning for the early childhood workforce.
Susan Hill
Chief Executive Officer
www.raisingliteracy.org.au; www.thelittlebigbookclub.com.au; www.littlebookpress.com.au
Not for Profit, registered with Australian Charity and Not for Profit Commission. ABN 740 511 82 680
6 people
Raising Literacy Australia Reading Pack program.
South Australia – statewide.
2005
• To increase awareness of the importance of reading with children from infancy • To encourage parents to read regularly to their young children • To encourage parents to visit and join their local public library • To encourage the establishment of home libraries • To provide easy access to support resources for parents and those in the early childhood sector including: care providers, educators, speech pathologist, librarians, students, outreach workers etc. • To improve children’s emergent literacy skills prior to entering formal education • To encourage parents and carers to engage in conversation with their children to assist in the development of language and comprehension skills • To develop a lifelong love of books and reading.
Government funding, philanthropic funding, small grants, donations and revenue from RLA publishing house – Little Book Press. Through the Little Book Press we produce in conjunction with established and emerging children’s authors and illustrators high quality early childhood board books, picture books and educational resources. The resources are included in our FREE RLA Reading pack program, we also sell to general public via normal channels and sell the resources at reduced prices to like-minded organisations who support their families in their communities with literacy programs and intervention programs.
Across the whole of South Australia – each year we provide 65,000 free reading packs – 21,000 baby reading packs, 21,000 toddler reading packs and 23,000 preschool reading packs. We also have a Read to Me program which supports all children who are in Out of Home Care in South Australia between the ages of birth and 6 years.
Not for profit.
None.
Consistent across the state.
We have a long established relationship with Australian publishing houses where we purchase appropriate board and picture books for Read to Me program. Being mindful of the trauma our Read to Me children have had and continue to have in their lives we select the titles. So far over 100 board and picture titles have been selected. Titles are drilled down to suit the age of the child for example: Start up library – 10 books given to each child when they enter the system. Baby Start up Home Library– board & picture books and play adjuncts • Nursery Rhyme for Every day CD and booklet • It’s Rhyme Time DVD and booklet • My First Shapes – black & white board book • Read to Me – rolemodelling DVD – with over 2 hours of stories being read to camera • Where is the Green Sheep? • Who Sank the Boat? • Very Hungry Caterpillar • Dear Zoo • Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy • We’re going on a bearhunt • Bears on chairs • Guess how much I love you • Hop up! Wiggle over! • Boom Bah! • You are my special baby • Lets go to sleep • Night watch • Fabulous Fishes • One Funky Monkey Toddler Start up Home Library–board and picture books • Nursery Rhyme for Every day CD and booklet • It’s Rhyme Time DVD and booklet • My First Coloured Shapes • Read to Me – rolemodelling DVD – with over 2 hours of stories being read to camera • Summer Rain • Guess How Much I Love You • We’re Going on a Bear Hunt • Come count with me • Maisy goes camping • Little Chicken Chickabee • Maisy goes on Holiday • Nursey rhymes – lift the flap • Bilby Moon • Construction • Sea Dog • Who Sank the boat • Two Little Monkeys • When I’m feeling – ANGRY • When I’m feeling – JEALOUS • When I’m feeling – KIND • When I’m feeling – HAPPY • When I’m feeling – SAD • When I’m feeling – SCARED • When I’m feeling – LONELY • When I’m feeling – LOVED • Very Hungry Caterpillar Preschool Start up Home library – picture books • Summer Rain • Guess How Much I Love You • We’re Going on a Bear Hunt • Ted • Night watch • Kick with my left foot • Maisy goes on Holiday • Little Chicken Chickabee • So Cosy • Is there a Dog in this book • Ballroom bonanza • Sea Dog • Fabulous Fishes • Cat • Jeremy Monthly top up titles . 2019 June, July & August distribution include. Baby – posted June to Aug 2019. Who says moo? Is it You? Baby Touch – Happy Birthday My Every Day Shapes. Toddler – posted June to Aug 2019. Where is Turtle – board book. Maisy goes to the library – picture book. Lets go strolling – picture book. Preschool – posted June to Aug 2019 Well Done Little Bear – picture book Slinky Malkini Early Bird – picture book Maisy goes to the library – picture book A letter, activities and bookplates stickers accompany the books.
Yes, free to all children in Out of Home Care in SA.
Currently we are in contact with: Aboriginal Family Support Services (AFSS), ac.care, Anglicare SA, Centacare • Lutheran Community Care, Uniting Care Wesley, Time for Kids (Respite), Connecting Foster Carers.
The packs are posted direct to the children through the Department of Education Distribution Centre. We package up the book packs per age bracket, hand the packs to the Dept Education Distribution Centre who add the home addresses and post to the children through Australia Post.
Cochranes Transport a South Australian courier and trucking company warehouses our book stock. Cochranes staff also package up the Start Up Home Library pack of 10 books, label and keep at their site for distribuiton direct to Department of Education Distribution Centre. We also, have individuals and corporate workers who come to our office once a month to package up the additional book packs (top up home libraries).
Read to Me program – is a targeted program for children in Out of Home Care (foster, kinship and residential care) up to 6 years of age. We are working on extending this program to 12years of age. Read to Me –home library program – provides community giving libraries with up to 400 carefully selected board and picture books, bookcase, weekly tips and literacy programming to community hubs, care centres etc. in vulnerable communities. Allowing vulnerable families access to quality picture and board books in their community. We know that vulnerable families are hesitant to access books for their children through public libraries for a number of reasons – including damage to the books, cost to replace, low literacy levels, having to join the library etc.
2000+ children and their care families. Plus additional 5,000 families through the read to me community home libraries.
0 – 1 year, 1 to 2 years, 2 to 3 years, 3 to 4 years, and 4 to 5 years, 5 to 6 years.
Not yet, looking at developing braille resources and sensory books 2020 and beyond.
English Multilingual – have developed some resources to support new arrival families including multilingual picture books, nursery rhyme DVD and CD and play adjuncts.
We have surveyed our families three times during the life of this program. These results have not been published are provided to our government and funding partners. 80% of responses reported that the books and resources in the Read to Me pack helped to establish regular time for reading, singing, talking and playing. The remainder of responses highlighted that these practices were already highly regarded and important in the household, and that the project enabled books to be delivered direct to children and add to their home libraries. The Read to Me project…. ❖ has given us great ideas and it really helped with the reading ❖ made me sit down with them and read to them ❖ should be made available to all children – what a great project ❖ Fantastic! We live in a remote area and children’s books are not as easy to access for us. ❖ Positive. Bringing new books into our house on a regular basis & activities to do with them was fantastic ❖ Many children who come into care have not had this quality time spent with them. There is no age limit in enjoying listening to stories or reading together. It is a fabulous way to help children bond with their new family. ❖ Teaching children how precious books are has been great, these books encourages adults and children to spend time together but also aids with bonding. Thank you ❖ Love to see the program extended. Its priceless for all of us to enjoy a good read, we hope lots of families are getting what we are out of the kindness of the little big book club. ❖ My 4 year old foster child was so happy to see that she had got some books. I loved seeing her so happy. ❖ I love the books with Aboriginal themes that have filtered through. This is a fantastic initiative. Thank you. ❖ We really appreciate this program and receiving the book packs. I can assure you they have been put to good use!!
