Readings leads to Better Beginnings

17 February 2009

 Sam Walsh, Mayor Carol Adams, Caroline Barrat - Pugh, Minister John Day and Margaret Allen at the evaluation launch.

 Culture and the Arts Minister John Day today announced the results of an Edith Cowan University study of the family literacy program, which illustrates the positive impact the program is supporting parents in becoming their child’s first teacher.

The program which began in 2005 covers most of WA and last year reached 89 per cent of parents with newborns, with eighty per cent of local government s in WA participating, including the entire Pilbara, South West and Perth metropolitan area.

“The ECU research shows that 85 per cent of parents in the study reported reading to their newborn after receiving their Better Beginnings kit,” Day said. “That is a significant increase from just 14 per cent of these parents who reported reading to their child prior to being involved in the program.”

Chief executive, Sam Walsh, spoke on behalf of Rio Tinto at the launch referring to the importance of early intervention for literacy could not be underestimated. “Seventy five per cent of a child’s brain development occurs up to the age of three, so engaging children with books and reading at an early age is vital,” he said.

Sam also acknowledged the tremendous reach the program has achieved through the strong co-operation of a number of government agencies including public libraries, local government and community health organisations.

He said “Better Beginnings has successfully reached more than 50,000 families across the State engaging over one hundred and fifteen remote, regional and metropolitan communities.  Whether you hail from Bidyadanga or Bassendean, are first generation Australian or Indigenous, Better Beginnings has been adapted by each community to ensure it is unique and relevant to the local population”. 

Better Beginnings is an early intervention family literacy program developed to provide positive language and literacy influences for young children.

About the time of a baby’s six to eight week check-up, parents are given a kit to take home including a book of rhymes, a nursery rhyme frieze, a list of recommended first books and information on how to share books with their babies.

For further information on the program, or to read the full evaluation “Making a Difference: a report on the Evaluation of the Better Beginnings Literacy Program 2007-2009” go to http://www.better-beginnings.com.au