Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation
$561,000
over three years to expand the Early Language and Literacy Program to Bowraville and Nambucca Heads, NSW
This program uses best practice early childhood education and speech language pathology to develop pre-literacy skills among young children.
Delivered across 62 sites in five states, the program has up-skilled 424 adults to support the language and literacy development of more than 4700 children. The program was specifically designed by Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) to compensate for learning challenges such as hearing loss and developmental delays. At the core of the program is a five day Certificate IV course to improve the capabilities of early years educators, teaching assistants, parents and community members to enable them to support children with the basics of English language development. ALNF also provides participants with practical resources and ongoing mentoring to build their confidence and capability to be literacy supporters.
The project in Bowraville and Nambucca Heads is an expansion of an existing Macleay Valley/Kempsey project, supported over a number of years by the CAGES Foundation. The Macleay Valley project has successfully grown from three sites in 2008 to 24 sites in 2014. Working closely with the CAGES Foundation, VFFF reviewed strong research and anecdotal evidence of the program’s efficacy, with measurable pre-literacy improvements and high levels of parent engagement with the ALNF resources and strategies. This provided a strong basis for VFFF to support a staged expansion to the nearby communities of Nambucca Heads and Bowraville.