It has been announced by Associate Education Minister Pita Sharples that Budget 2011 will provide $6.5 million in funding to expand family-based literacy programmes to all decile one two and three schools, building on the current Reading Together programme.   

The Reading Together programme for school aged children was developed alongside the Early Reading Together  programme for babies to 6 year olds. 

The programmes were developed by Jeanne Biddulph, an author of the  Families and Communities Best Evidence Synthesis, and have a strong basis in research evidence about children's learning and what works best.

"I know from my own implementation of Early Reading Together  and the work that others have done (and continue to do) that it makes a positive difference in lots of significant ways', says Jeanne Biddulph.

Today ChildForum has announced it is getting behind the Early Reading Together programme and will be promoting this to families with young children and within the early childhood sector. 

Reading Together and Early Reading Together have much in common in terms of their underlying research base, theoretical perspectives, workshop structures, processes and activities, etc.

The difference is that Early Reading Together is focused on helping parents to talk with, read to and read with young children (and to sing with them, enjoy rhymes etc) while Reading Together is mainly designed to help parents support their children effectively and positively when the child is reading to the parent at home (i.e. the point at which things go badly wrong in so many families, across all socio-economic and ethnic groups).

* READ MORE:  Early Reading Together Workshop Handbook for ECE Services, Booklets for Parents, Rhyme and Song Sheet Sets and more - click on the link for ordering information