Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to inform the House of the success at Hawker Park Primary School of the Support-a-Reader program. The program provides support where reluctant or struggling readers are allocated volunteer helpers who, on a weekly basis, come into the school and read with them during the school week. The student and the helper take turns reading, using a proven system which has achieved great results in many schools. Having undertaken training, volunteers provide an hour a week to come to the school and read with a primary student. Each student receives 15 minutes of one-on-one time most days of the week. The volunteers come from the school community in the form of dedicated parents and grandparents, but the school is also very well supported by seniors and members of the Lions clubs. I am informed by Liz Everall, the teacher who runs Support-a-Reader at Hawker Park, that many of the seniors have been involved for more than five years. In many ways it is not surprising that these people are so involved as they are already active members of the local community through Lions clubs and other community service efforts. Liz tells me that they pull out their diaries when working out when they can next come to Support-a-Reader. Clearly these are the sorts of people who make this country great and our communities strong.

Over the last four to five years, the balance of helpers has changed and these senior citizens now outnumber the parent volunteers, who are often too busy with work and family commitments to be able to help. I pay tribute to Liz Everall and the Support-a-Reader volunteers, who since the program began have ensured that no children at Hawker Park are more than two years behind in reading age. Furthermore, no children are below the benchmark in reading in middle and upper school. I make this point with the proviso that newcomers to the school may not immediately be up to these levels, although I am confident that the Support-a-Reader program will get them there.

It is worth noting that success in helping children to read is not achieved through a one-off session. It is achieved through a level of consistent trust and understanding, as provided by these volunteers, which enables children to overcome their reluctance to read. I have said before in this House that one of the most important things to young children is to be able to fit in. They do not want to feel different or inadequate and therefore alienated from the opportunities of education. Through Support-a-Reader, children who struggle with literacy are supported and they are helped to attain levels consistent with those of their peers.

It is a great program that works very well for the students at Hawker Park. I commend the volunteers for their commitment to our future generations at the school. I commend the senior citizens for their work and I congratulate the parent volunteers who work to help the children of other families at the school. The senior citizen volunteers are Jen Tabor, Maxine Foster, Jenny McNae, Lynn Parker, Roz Gablikis, Lily Webster, Regina Dixon, Ruth Westacott, Deidre Brooks and Peter Clark. The parent volunteers are Chris Henry, Vikki Matttock, Kelly Simpkins and Anne Jones.

See this speech in context