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Selection of children.
Matching schools to pools of volunteers from businesses or community groups.
Volunteer time during school hours for between 10 & 15 weeks (about an hour a week), a training session, orientation morning tea and end-of-program party.
Funding to cover training & support for volunteers, testing of children & running the program.
Schools, businesses and community and other organisations can nominate to be a part of Reading for Life.
The program involves matching schools with businesses or organisations who can support the program either through funding and/or volunteer support. Schools can also raise money to fund the program themselves. Learning Links may be able to help schools by applying for funding to local registered clubs and trusts and foundations for the program.
Businesses can contribute to the program by providing volunteer time and/or funding for Learning Links’ professional training and support to volunteers. They can also join together to support a program in one or more local
schools.
Most Reading for Life programs contain 10 volunteers and 10 children, with five additional volunteers as back-ups if needed. The program can be run with smaller or larger numbers, with larger numbers being more
cost-effective.
Volunteers, once identified, are screened according to selection criteria. These criteria include:
- having an adequate level of English literacy skills,
- having adequate communication skills,
- completing relevant child protection screening, and
- being able to commit to attending school for a regular time each week during school hours as well as an initial training session, an orientation morning tea and end of program party.
If volunteers come from one or two businesses or organisations, we need one volunteer to coordinate local volunteers.
Children are selected based on the following criteria:
- are in Years 2 to 4 (Australia) & 3 to 5 (New Zealand),
- are struggling to acquire literacy skills,
- have no significant cognitive, behavioural or mental health issues,
- have an adequate grasp of English, and
- preferably are not receiving any specific additional funding support at school.
Children are then tested prior to inclusion in the program both to ascertain their learning strengths and weaknesses and provide a baseline for testing at the end of the program to gauge their improvement.
Volunteers attend a training session where they learn about learning difficulties and how to help children. This session can be held during the day or at night.
Volunteers then attend an orientation morning tea to meet their Reading Buddies, the classroom teachers and the children’s parents. They then return to the school at a set time each week to work through the program’s activities. The program requires a time commitment of 45 minutes each week (not including travelling time to and from the school).
The program can range from 10 to 15 weeks, however the longer the program, the more likely to achieve better results for the children.
If the program has a duration of 15 weeks, it will be held over two school terms and will involve a break for school holidays. A 10-week program may be run either in one term only or across two terms.
There will be an opportunity for volunteers to attend two support and review sessions during the program or alternatively they discuss any concerns or questions with their Learning Links’ trainer and support person.
We ask volunteers to host a final end-of-program party for the children to celebrate their achievements.
Children are assessed and interviewed at the end of the program to determine improvements. Volunteers, teachers and parents are asked to evaluate their experiences. This feedback is available to all participants once collated.
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