General

Conference ends and Reconciliation Week begins

Our 8th National Conference ended with the call for everyone present to meet up and yarn with Aboriginal friends and colleagues during Reconciliation Week, given the theme this year of More than a Word. Reconciliation Takes Action.

Aptly, with the Conference theme being Enhancing Early Literacy by Embracing our Cultural Diversity, the tone was set by Aunty Lyn Martin, when her Welcome to Country included her reading the Uluru Statement from the Heart to us.

Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley MH, PTTR Patron and guest speaker, Aunty Lyn Martin, and Cr Asfour, Mayor of Canterbury Bankstown, delegates and mascots at the 8th National Paint the Town REaD Conference in Bankstown, Sydney.

Their Excellencies the Governor General and Mrs Hurley to attend our 8th National Conference

We’re thrilled to tell you that Their Excellencies the Governor General and Mrs Hurley are attending our 8th National Conference on Thursday 20 May. Mrs Hurley (our Patron) will be opening the Conference. They will also be joining us for our Conference Dinner.

This is a great way for you to meet them, as well as receive up to date research and practice skills to incorporate into your early literacy practices.

Mrs Hurley is a terrific Patron for PTTR. Have a look at how she launched our National REaD and Sing with Me at Home Campaign last year.

Register now! It isn’t too late.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone in PTTR communities across Australia – for the way you have moved heaven and earth this year to keep the message of ‘Read with your Baby from Birth’ alive in your local communities.

Thank you to our wonderful donors who make our work possible – and to all the amazing volunteers behind the scenes. You are all awesome!

May you walk in peaceful and renewing places in this Season.

And of course READ! Here are some great suggestions from Paint Camden REaD NSW on Dharawal Country.

NAIDOC Week 2020 – Always Was, Always Will Be

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations as the first people of Australia.
We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
We honour their cultural, spiritual and emotional connection to their traditional Country.
We thank our Aboriginal Elders and colleagues who graciously, patiently and with humour lead us in Paint the Town REaD, Black and Yellow

National Reconciliation Week 2020

In this Together

Today marks the end of National Reconciliation Week 2020.

Reconciliation between our First Nations and those of us who came later, is entwined in the life of PTTR.

A beautiful example from this week, was a poster developed by Paint Shoalhaven REaD, Black and Yellow in NSW, teaching children about staying safe during Covid 19. It has been shared across Australia to all our communities. And this week is being updated by The Swan community in WA. From Yuin sands to Noongar lands.

COVID-19 safety poster

PTTR and COVID-19

In the middle of the world turning upside in the space of a few weeks, we are thrilled to tell you that our local PTTR community organisers are once more demonstrating their creative skills in how best to support families and children keeping the love of books alive — or introducing them to books for the first time.

From Paint the Swan REaD in WA, where staff from Clan Midland have spent ‘virtual’ time planning for how best to keep sharing the message of read, talk, sing and rhyme with your baby from birth, to Port Lincoln in SA, where the reading egg has still been visiting early childhood services, to D’Bay in Qld where Kooka their mascot has been very busy in services this week, through to Liverpool in NSW, where their mascot Gogo has been super busy practising nursery rhymes to sing with children online we are with you.

And in the background the PTTR Board has been meeting to implement strategic contingency plans

So, parents, grandparents, and all the family, keep an eye on your local PTTR facebook page and our national Paint the Town REaD Facebook Page for ideas and support. Check out your local library Facebook pages, too, for their live streaming of story times … you may even find your mascot there!

Thank you Lady Cosgrove

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!

Her Excellency Lady Cosgrove has been bitten again by the REaDing Bug at
Admiralty House, Sydney, NSW.
l to r: Rhonda Brain, Lady Cosgrove, Barbie Bates, Lindy Alwis, Tracey Kirk Downey.

Thank you Dymocks

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.

Thank you Perth for a terrific Conference

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!

Paint the Town REaD logo Paint the Town REaD ladybird Book Paint the Town REaD Ladybird body back Ladybird body front