The Illawarra Let’s Read area is comprised of Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas.
The City of Wollongong is a local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated adjacent to the Tasman Sea, the Southern Freeway and the South Coast railway line. Area: 684 km²
The City of Shellharbour is a local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated South of Wollongong. Area: 147 km²
Let’s Read is a member of the Paint the Gong Read and Paint Shellharbour Read committees. The Paint the Town Read committees promote early literacy events and activities in Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas. Let’s Read is delivered through Paint the Town Read members and their organisations.
Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba reading at Paint Shellharbour launch.
Launch ​of Paint Shoalhaven REaD, Black & Yellow in Nowra
Read a book or two with Aggy the black cockatoo!
The Smith Family Program Coordinators and local Family Partnership Coordinators attended a launch of the mascot for the Paint Shoalhaven REaD, Black and Yellow in Nowra in October 2017. Mascot Aggy the black cockatoo, 'hatched' from her egg. An exercise ball was painted by local Aboriginal elders in the presence of children from ten local pre-schools.
A competition ran for several months for local children to come up with a name for the mascot and the winner was chosen by the elders. The children were very excited to meet Aggy and she will be a welcome guest at future community events. Our catch phrase for the program is ‘Read a Book or two with Aggy the black cockatoo!’
Aggy listened to a story, danced and sang songs with the children before posing for photographs. The children participated in various activities, including making badges and key rings with The Smith Family staff, colouring in and listening to stories.
Children received prizes of book packs, donated by The Smith Family. Book boxes were also filled with donated second-hand books which will be distributed in the coming weeks to local businesses and community organisations to give families access to free books.
NAIDOC Celebrations in Sh​​ellharbour
PC Siân and FPC Alisha from the Shellharbour community attended the NAIDOC Fun Day run by the Shellharbour City Council.
The Smith Family had a stall where families were able to make their own keyring and enjoy some Let's Read colouring-in. Let’s Read tip sheets were handed out and there were many conversations about the importance of reading to children at an early age. A reading area was set up in front of our stall where volunteers offered to read to children.
Families in the area on our scholarship program stopped by our stall to say hello, and members from the community really enjoyed the activities we provided, making over 150 keyrings on the day.​
Suanne Sneddon, Illawarra/Shoalhaven Team Leader Learning for Life | The Smith Family
Promoting reading in Shellharbour
On Tuesday 12 July, 2016, ten very keen community professionals in Shellharbour completed Let's Read Training. With a wide variety of participants from Librarians to Early Childhood Teachers to Paint the Town REaD coordinators, we were able to establish a fantastic network of services that will be able to spread the Let's Read message throughout Shellharbour.
Everyone was really keen to be involved in the training and got a lot out of the session, feeling much more confident now to have discussions with the families they work with about the importance of early literacy. We are looking forward to working together in delivering the Let's Read Packs and increasing the literacy rates for all young people in our community. ​
Paint the Gong Re(a)d - Life is brighter with ​books!
The literacy-promoting event through Paint The Gong Re(a)d was held in Warrawong during Book Week with local agencies, services and organisations focusing on children aged 0-5. We had lots of special guests at the event, including the Wollongong Mayor, NRL Dragons players, local lifeguards, firefighters and police.
Children and families went around the shopping centre, participating in four different activities that were related to a chosen book. Once they got their stickers from each station, they came back to us at the information desk and received their book pack, enclosed with a free book and resources including Let's Read tip sheets and suggested books. The event was a great success and we are already planning for next year!​
Let's Read at the University of Wo​​​​llongong
Another Let's Read training session in the Illawarra was held at the University of Wollongong with participants from the Paint the Town Re(a)d group and UOW Early Start. The group of participants were very enthusiastic and vocal in their ideas and goals for incorporating Let's Read into their service and how to network better with other services in the community. The Let's Read packs given to participants in this training session were funded by FACS. Afterwards, we were invited on a tour of the new Discovery Centre at the campus in the Early Start building with our special guests Judy and Jenny. In partnership with UOW Early Start, we will be holding our Let's Count training in the centre later this year.
Let’s Read at Warilla Occ​​asional Care
In May 2016, 6 staff members from Warilla Pre-school and Occasional Care were trained in the Let’s Read program. Let’s Read ties in closely with much of other work they are doing towards early literacy at the centre and they were very excited to incorporate Let’s Read into their work.
The brainstorming session at the end of the training resulted in some great ideas for the centre and how they can open up the conversation about reading with parents, including using online newsfeeds to provide parents with a tip of the week around reading with their children.
Other news from 2016...
Family and Community Services (FACS) funded 500 Let’s Read packs for the Illawarra /Nowra area through their Community Strengthen grant. Communities for Children funded 150 Let’s Read packs for the Shellharbour area. The team purchased and then needed to pack a total of 650 Let’s Read packs - the largest amount we have ever packed at once.
Our supportive VIEW ladies from Albion Park and Shellharbour VIEW clubs came to the rescue and assisted the LfL team to pack the 650 Let’s Read packs. We completed the task in under two hours. It was a big effort from all involved. A big thank you to all VIEW clubs who have donated reading rugs. The rugs were packed in the 4month old Let’s Read packs so children receive their reading rugs from an early age.
Suanne Sneddon |Team Leader Learning for Life | The Smith Family
Paint the Gong Read in Warrawong (Souther Wollongong), 2016
'Paint the Gong Read' hold an annual early literacy event which engages the community to promote ealry literacy and the message of its importance. It's held in Warrawong Westfield shopping centre with is in a low soco economic area. There is a high population of English as second language with in Warrawong, and we target children who don't attend preschool or playgroups. Our event includes literacy-based activities for children to promote early literacy. We also engage with parents around the importance of early literacy.
The Let’s Read Community Program in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, 2014
In 2014 Let’s Read was delivered to over 300 children and their families in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions. There was an overwhelming response to the program this year. All of our contact organisations were excited to have the opportunity to share the Let’s Read message with their families.
Tanya from Barnardos who supported the program in our region, said that “the packs were well received by her families” and she “loved how the program encouraged families to sit down with their children and spend time reading and talking together”, something that we don’t do enough of in our technology driven society. Tanya and her team were thankful for letting them be involved in the program.
Many of the reading packs were given to younger parents from our disadvantaged communities. The younger parents were very supportive of their child’s development and future and most knew the value of early literacy learning. However they felt they lacked the skills and knowledge to guide their children’s learning, and it was programs like Let’s Read that gave them the confidence to try to incorporate reading into their everyday lives.
Natasha was one of the young parents who received packs for her two young children. She couldn’t express how much she appreciated the packs. She did say that “When we got home we sat down straight away and looked at the book and the information with my 2 year old son. My son loved the book!” Natasha said she valued the program and that it supported her to teach her son how important books and reading are. After they had finished the books included in the reading packs she then went on to sign up with the Imagination Library and both her children aged 2 and 10 months are enjoying reading a variety of books.
Alisha McLuckie | Learning for Life Program Coordinator | The Smith Family
Let’s Read Illawarra is funded by Family and Community Services and Communities for Children.
Let’s Read Illawarra is supported in kind by VIEW clubs who assist with packing our Let’s Read literacy bags and knitting reading rugs.
VIEW presenting Let’s Read with reading rugs.
E letsread@thesmithfamily.com.au