Better beginnings family literacy program

Good reading and literacy skills are not only an essential foundation for performance in formal education, but also a prerequisite for successful participation in all areas of adult life and research consistently shows that an early exposure to books and stories substantially contributes to success in early literacy.

In Western Australia, public libraries will be at the hub of a new program developed by the State Library of Western Australia called Better Beginnings, an innovative and unique family literacy program to assist parents to develop the early literacy skills of their children. Stage One of the program has recently been launched in Gosnells, Mandurah, Midland, Carnarvon, Halls Creek and Kalgoorlie, the six communities participating in phase one of the State Government's Early Years Strategy.

The program consists of a series of linked initiatives developed to encourage parents to share books and stories with their babies and to establish life-long links with libraries. Edith Cowan University has agreed to work with the State Library to comprehensively evaluate the program.

In the six communities participating in Stage One of the program, the parents of every baby born will receive a 'literacy toolkit' when they visit a community health centre for their baby's six week health check. The kit contains a board book, a growth chart featuring favourite nursery rhymes, a list of the best books to share with young children and supporting material to encourage reading and literacy activities in the home.

Other components of the program have been developed to build on the impact of these 'toolkits' and to link families to the life-long learning opportunities offered by public libraries. Public libraries will host a series of rhymetime and storytime sessions for babies as well as 'pram jams' where early childhood specialists will meet with parents to talk about literacy, speech and language development, play and other topics central to healthy child development. The libraries are also developing Family Reading Centres as an inclusive welcoming place for families to visit and spend time with their children. These will bring together books for young children as well as parenting information and feature resources to encourage early literacy.

Tips on sharing books with children of all ages and links to activities to share with children can be found on the State Library's website at: http://web.liswa.wa.gov.au/read.html

Stage One of Better Beginnings will pave the way for the opportunity of a state-wide initiative in 2005 to provide the best possible start in life of all Western Australian children.

For more information about the program contact Sue North at the State Library of Western Australia on 08 9427 3134.

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