Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi:
Manurewa Central School

Introduction/Whakataki

First do no harm

'The damage starts when the first book goes home'.

This video, at Manurewa Central School, shows how unintended harm can occur when well-intended parents 'help' their children with reading.

Principal, Laurie Thew, explains how Manurewa Central makes it safe for parents to learn how to support children's success in reading. The school supports parents and caregivers to support children's learning to great effect.

Parents explain how participating in the RT process changes the nature of their established relationship with the school and its leaders.

Modelling the change

This video outlines the importance of the modelling of how to read with a child at the first RT workshop. This demonstration is a 'light-switch' moment for parents and grandparents.

Parents describe their changed practice.

The stress level goes down for adults and children. Anxiety is reduced. School leaders explain the effects of this intervention for social wellness.

"...It actually promotes social wellness as well. Those relationships that develop over a book are positive feelings provided we take the stress out of the situation, and that's what Reading Together® does."

Facilitator

Connection: The Reading Together® impact

Parents, grandparents and the school leadership explain the deep change the programme has made.

This video demonstrates the catalytic effect of the Reading Together® intervention in building educationally powerful connections for learning and wellbeing.

"...I was a bit sceptical in the beginning because I thought, how are they going to teach me to teach my kid to read? But I got heaps out of it. Heaps, heaps, heaps."

Parent

Every group is different: School leadership learning

At Manurewa Central the leadership team who facilitate Reading Together® speak of how nothing is assumed or taken for granted as they prepare themselves to welcome new parents into the programme.

At this school Reading Together® is used to support the whole "transition to school" process for children, families and teachers.

School leaders build relationships with new families that enable teaching to be more responsive to the children.

The community library connection

Sustaining families' ongoing access to a rich array of texts is enabled by partnering with community libraries.

"...For lots of people, they can make a connection with their librarian once they've been in a few times and we get to know what they like, and we're able to make recommendations for people, but that relationship has to be built first, and that's why the Reading Together® programme is so good, because we get to connect with people who perhaps wouldn't have the confidence to step inside the doors to start off with."

Community Librarian

Reading Together®: Building a literate culture

Leaders have classroom teachers going through the Reading Together® Programme so that they deepen their understanding of how they can optimise support for their learners and strengthen relationships with whānau.

Children's access to the right books at the right time is paramount and the teachers follow up to make sure this happens.

At Manurewa Central Reading Together® has been a catalyst for building a literate culture. Everyone - leaders, teachers, parents, families, whānau and children - are working together to build literacy.

At this school Reading Together® is used to support the whole "transition to school" process for children, families and teachers.

Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi:

Here are quick links to the other BES exemplars demonstrating critical success factors for effective implementation of Reading Together® in a school serving predominantly Pacific communities and a school serving a multi-cultural community.

BES Implementation Exemplars

Fairhaven School-Iwi Partnership

He Kākano ahau i ruia mai i Rangiatea