Friday 9th November

Keeping kids reading

Over 700 children will benefit from taking part in the Hastings District Libraries’ Summer Reading Programmes during the school holidays.

Online registrations for this year’s junior English and te reo programmes open on Monday 26th November at 10am.

Paula Murdoch, District Libraries Manager recommends parents take this opportunity to register their children who need help with reading over the school holidays.

“The summer reading programme is a perfect opportunity to help our children keep or improve the reading skills they have worked hard to develop during the school year. Ideally, we want more children taking part in the programmes who haven’t had that opportunity in the past.”

Paula says the junior programme fills quickly, and every year parents and children who cannot get into the library to register on the opening day end up being disappointed.

“These may be parents who are at work, or perhaps live in one of Hastings’ many rural communities.” Paula says.”Online registration gives everyone a fair chance to register and help staff manage registration information more efficiently.”

Once registered online, participants should visit the library from Wednesday 28th November to meet the staff and collect a programme pack.

Families that don’t have access to the internet at home can come into a library to register. A computer will be available and staff on hand to help with the process.

Registrations for iRead (intermediate students) and ReadPlus (secondary school aged students) open on Wednesday 28th in Flaxmere and Havelock North. For those wishing to register for this programme in Hastings there is a fun filled registration evening being held on Wednesday 28th from 5.30.

Online services were introduced into the reading programmes two years ago with children being able to arrange online report-ins during the programme.

“With the Hastings District covering approximately 5200 square kilometres, we need to consider those who don’t live in an urban area that is close to a library. We aim to make these reading programmes more accessible to library users throughout the region over the summer.”

Parents are encouraged to talk with library staff about which programme is suitable for their child and ways they can support their child’s literacy.

ends

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