Reading, writing and ready to learn

AN upcoming school initiative is aiming to get kids ready for to start their education next year.

Staff at St Mary’s Primary School at Clarke’s Hill will soon be running a weekly literacy reading program for students starting their primary education in 2024.

Principal, Inez French, said the program aims to be an overarching initiative with the potential to expand.

“It’s a phonics-based evidence research program which we’d like to start running sometime in term two, if not term three depending on interest,” she said.

“It’s also teaching them routine and we’ll include some social skills in that as well, and it’s just about getting them ready for school in general. We may even include some numeracy as well.

“This is part of our MACQLIT suite, which is a series of intervention programs. We’ve had success before with the MINILIT and MACQLIT branches.”

Each session will cost a gold coin donation and participants will not need to be enrolled at the school to take part.

With 14 students already set to join the early leaning, Ms French said a key aim of the program was to promote the school.

“People were saying ‘we didn’t know your school exists’ because we’re quite a unique little school,” she said.

“Promoting ourselves was definitely part of the thinking behind this but then it took on its momentum that this is something that will really benefit.

“We’ve really recognised that due to COVD a lot of the kids are coming in with probably not the skills they had three or four years go.

“With a lot of three and four-year-old kinder, more parents are getting their children into some sort of system well before school.”

Each session is set to run on Fridays from 9.15am to 10.45am, with number capped at about 10 participants.

RSVPing is open until Monday, 5 June and can be done by contacting St Mary’s Primary School on 5334 5280.