Leopold Child and Family Centre rewarded for outstanding program

LEOPOLD Child and Family Centre (LCaFC) in combination with the Leopold Primary School and Leopold Library claimed the Continuity of Early Learning award at the Victorian Early Years Awards in November.

The centre received the award for its outstanding buddy reader program in 2019.

What started as a program to develop the reading skills of 3-5-year-olds with the help of Grade 5 pupils from the primary school quickly turned into much more than that.

The program is the work of LCaFC educator Michelle Travers, who said the bonds the children from the centre made with the primary school pupils was amazing, and while the reading element remained important, the true success story proved to be on a personal level.

“What started as a reading program evolved into more of a wellbeing program,” Ms Travers said.

“It just eases the transition to school, it builds the relationships and helps them feel more comfortable when they start school.”

Centre management Jess Linguey agreed.

“When they transition to school, it’s a lot smoother,” she said.

“And (the Grade 5s) get the opportunity to be leaders and role models… it helped them with their development too. It was very exciting (to receive the award), a lot of work went into it so it was good to get the reward.”

The children combined to do great work is the classroom, but what pleased Ms Travers the most was when they came together to raise funds and donate towards the Salvation Army to help prevent homelessness.

After discussing homelessness in the classroom, the children brainstormed the idea to donate food items to the cause and accompany it with letters of support.

Ms Travers said this was the highlight of the program for her.

“The children were able to come together to make an impact on their community… they really got to understand the reward you can feel by helping others.”

The group made their donation on World Kindness Day.