Dubbo is situated 388 Kilometres from Sydney CBD, with a population of 38,943 and 0-4 year age group being 2,861 (2016 ABS Census). Dubbo Council amalgamated with Wellington Council in May 2016, hence the population of Dubbo Regional Council is 52,884 with 0-4 year group being around 3,169 and the area covered 7,536 Square Kilometres.
In Dubbo, The Smith Family has been delivering Let’s Read through Dubbo Family Day Care over the last 4 years, as well as to a few smaller Play Groups. There are around 170 Bags being distributed to Family Day Care each year for families and 30 bags to a chosen play group each year.
On Friday, 28th August, The Smith Family’s LfL team in Dubbo teamed up with Buninyong Schools as Community Centre, Macquarie Regional Library and Carewest to hold a Let’s Read Community Awareness event at Orana Mall. The event was held during National Book Week, and the aim of the day was to get the Let’s Read message to as many people as possible, but particularly to those families with children who aren’t currently attending preschool, playgroup or similar support services. It was a very successful and busy day, with approximately 350 Let’s Read resource packs going home with very excited little ones, as well as an extra 200 books making their way into homes thanks to a generous donation from UnitingCare Burnside. We were also able to hand out some Reading Rugs knitted by our wonderful VIEW Club ladies. The idea behind the Reading Rugs is that it is something that the child and parent/carer can sit on or cuddle with together when it is time to read a story, and is something that our VIEW ladies are very skilled at and love to do for us. The Macquarie Regional Library also brought along their hand-puppets from their Storytime sessions that made for some extra fun! This day was the culmination of our Let’s Read activities in Dubbo for 2015, which saw 730 Let’s Read resource packs making their way into Dubbo homes thanks to our fantastic program partners including preschools, family day care educators, family support services, community playgroups and the local library.
Dawn Redding, Program Coordinator, Learning for Life| The Smith Family
The Smith Family
E letsread@thesmithfamily.com.au