Thank you to the Australian Chinese Charity Foundation for their generous grant to fund the translation of PTTR’s ‘How to Feed Your Baby’s Brain’ into Chinese.
Home language is so important for parents to use to read, talk and sing with their babies, so we are thrilled that we can now translate our most popular resource into Chinese.
Congratulations Paint Mackay REaD, who in partnership with F5F at Mackay library, won the Queensland Local Government Authority Award for outstanding community service for their Berky Birthday Books.
We are delighted to announce that Her Excellency, Mrs Linda Hurley is our new Patron.
Mrs Hurley writes:
I am delighted to become Patron of Paint the Town REaD.
There are few things I am more passionate about than encouraging our young people to read, sing and rhyme. Many of us take these foundational skills for granted but it is far too common for children to arrive at school without the skills necessary to make the most of their early education. That is why Paint the Town REaD’s efforts are so critical. The more we encourage parents, carers and communities to read with children the better off they will be as individuals and we will be as a country.
I’m looking forward to supporting your cause and celebrating your efforts over the next five years.
It’s National Child Protection Week and at Paint the Town REaD we believe we can all help to create the lighthouses and safe harbours that families and children need. #playyourpart #ncpw www.napcan.org.au
Paint the Town REaD is thrilled to partner with Street Libraries across
Australia, both at a strategic and local level.
Strategically we are forging communication and purchasing links, and locally we are looking together at some joint branding, as well as PTTR groups being invited to ‘adopt a Street Library’ for orphan libraries.
Thank you Lady Cosgrove for being our first Patron – for your warmth, wisdom, laughter and commitment to the children of Australia.
Over these past three years we have truly valued meeting and celebrating with you our milestones and plans for the future.
We wish you and Sir Peter all the very best for your future adventures, knowing that they will include reading with children from birth!
Grounded in Truth – Walk Together with Courage.
The theme for this year’s Reconciliation Week resonates through us here at PTTR as we remember with gratitude the wise, beautiful and heartfelt Welcomes to Country that we have received from Aboriginal Elders as we travelled on the Paint Australia REaD Book Relay from Perth to the Pacific, these last couple of months. From Auntie Marie in Noongar Country to Aunty Lorraine in Dharawal Country, and the many Elders in between, we have been blessed by your truth and your courage. Thank you so much.
54 days of the Paint Australia REaD Book Relay have passed in a whirl of excitement and invitation, children’s delighted faces as they enjoy reading together and meeting new communities keen to work together to give their children a better start in life .
This week, the Relay team was present for the hatching of two new mascots…two new communities that have chosen to take the Paint the Town REaD pathway to increase the literacy levels amongst their children. Welcome Dhinawan the Emu for Lightning Ridge NSW, and Gracie Guy-a-wan the Shark for Taree NSW. Both mascots have been chosen by local Elders. As totems of Gamileroi and Biripi nations respectively, these mascots will be front and central, in supporting children to be introduced to the love of reading from birth.
As we head off on Stage 2 of the Paint Australia REaD Book Relay, from Adelaide to Wollongong via rural and urban SA, Victoria and NSW we take with us $10,000 worth of books donated by Dymocks Children’s Charity for distribution to local communities, especially in the bush. A number of the books have also headed west to WA and remote SA.
It is through people like Dymocks and generous local communities that we are building the Relay Book which will capture how across Australia we value and celebrate our babies and young children by reading with them from birth so that they will be ready for learning at school. Please keep following the Relay on our Facebook page – Paint the Town REaD.
Our 7th National Early Literacy Conference was an outstanding success, starting with a PreConference Symposium on 20 March lead by Curtin University early literacy experts, A/Prof Suze Leitao, Dr Mary Claessen and Dr Mark Boyes with Dyslexia Speld’s Mandy Nayton.
That was followed by a WA State Parliament Reception, hosted by the Hon Janine Freeman, with the Hon David Templeman theatrically launching the Paint Australia REaD Book Relay.
The Conference ‘proper’ got underway the following day, with Aunty Marie Taylor Welcoming us so warmly to Country, and WA’s Governor Kim Beasley opening the Conference. Dr Bret Hart, Colin Pettit – WA Commissioner for Children and Young People, Greg Mitchell and Barbie Bates were ‘just what the Doctor ordered’ for Keynote speakers.
And Workshops led by experts from around the country, kept delegates inspired and involved.
No sooner than the Conference finished, did the Relay begin. After a week in the SW and Perth, it is now heading east. Keep track of it on Facebook – Paint the Town REaD!