Victorian youngsters rise to the challenge

Thousands of children and young people from across Victoria have spent the past few months enjoying their favourite books as part of the Premiers’ Reading Challenge.

Minister for Education James Merlino and Minister for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos congratulated more than 250,000 participants from 3,161 local schools, early childhood services and homes across the state, collectively reading more than four million books as part of this year’s Challenge.

“It’s great to see so many keen readers across Victoria take up the Premiers’ Reading Challenge to read more books and enjoy the benefits of reading,” Cr James Merlino said.

To complete the Challenge, students in year’s three to 10 needed to read 15 books or more in the six months from March to September. For pupils in prep, year one and year two the Challenge is to read or experience 30 books.

Children who have not yet started school are challenged to read or experience 40 books with the help of their families.

More than 8,000 children from across Victoria participated in the accompanying Premiers’ Reading Challenge for the Early Years, reading and experiencing thousands of books.

The challenge is an important literacy initiative that encourages more children and young people to read more often.

Since the Premiers’ Reading Challenge began 13 years ago almost 2.5 million students and children have read more than 45 million books.

For more information on the challenge, visit education.vic.gov.au/prc.