Macedon students rise to the challenge

Hundreds of children and young people from across the Macedon Ranges have spent the past few months enjoying their favourite books as part of the Premiers’ Reading Challenge.

Mary-Anne Thomas MP today congratulated students from 14 local schools who participated in the Challenge, which finished earlier this month.

Local schools participating included Darraweit Guim Primary School, Gisborne Primary School, Malmsbury Primary School, Mount Macedon Primary School, New Gisborne Primary School, St Mary’s Primary School, Taradale Primary School, Tylden Primary School, Bolinda Primary School, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish School, Romsey Primary School, St Ambrose Parish School, Woodend Primary School and Braemar College.

More than 250,000 participants from 3,161 local schools, early childhood services and homes from across Victoria read more than four million books as part of this year’s Challenge.

To complete the Challenge, students in Years three to ten needed to read 15 books or more in the six months from March to September. For students in Prep, year one and year two the challenge is to read or experience 30 books.

Children who have not yet started school are challenged to read or experience 40 books with the help of their families. More than 8,000 children from across Victoria participated in the accompanying Premiers’ Reading Challenge For The Early Years, reading and experiencing thousands of books.

The Challenge is an important literacy initiative that encourages more children and young people to read more often. A key Education State target is to increase the number of year five and year nine students reaching the highest levels of achievement in reading by 25 per cent – and the Challenge will help meet that goal. Since the Premiers’ Reading Challenge began 13 years ago almost 2.5 million students and children have read more than 45 million books.

For more information on the Challenge visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/prc