Four-year-old Evie Kelly has given a thumbs up to the Get Ready! school readiness program after undergoing the eight-week program earlier this year.
The free Whitsunday program helps prepare children and their parents for prep by giving the tools to help build language and early reading and writing skills.
Evie’s mum, Kate Kelly, signed up to the program after hearing about it from a friend.
“I felt it was something Evie would be interested in doing with her friends and really liked that it fostered a love of learning in a fun way.
“We went into it not knowing much about the program and it delivered much more than we expected.”
Kate said the interactive and fun format is what kept both Evie and her engaged and loving learning.
“The program is so easy for the parents and the kids are learning when they don’t even realise it,” she said.
“We read books, learnt about rhyming words, words that start with the same sound and how to make it all fun at home.
“The parents also gained a bit of insight into how the children will be learning when they get to prep.
“I would encourage any parent with a child starting prep next year to sign up. It’s free, fun and a great way to meet other families.”
Proserpine Hospital Speech Pathologist Kelly Rodgers delivers the Get Ready! School readiness program to families in Cannonvale and Proserpine.
She said Get Ready! is an evidence-based program that has been modified to suit the needs of the Whitsundays communities.
“Each lesson involves the reading of a storybook and parents are given a handout to do at home with their child. Some of the activities include identifying and describing the setting and characters of a story or identifying words that rhyme.
“The activities are all very easy and repetitive so parents can do it from home with their child with whatever books they have. Afterall, parents are the best teachers.”
The Get Ready! school readiness program runs one day a week for eight weeks in both Proserpine and Cannonvale. Sessions are completely free with a valid Medicare card. To find out when the next round will be open contact Whitsunday Community Health Centre on 4948 7633.
