Dads help turn the page on literacy development

About 30 dads took part in a reading challenge last week as part of national Book Week celebrations at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School.

The annual Dads’ Reading Challenge aims to bring more male role models into the school, with the dads volunteering their time to help out.

The group spent the morning reading together, which principal Steve Gibbs said was an important part of early literacy development

“Dads' involvement in reading to their children has been shown to have a huge impact on children’s abilities,” he said.

“Research has shown that children whose dads read to them behave and concentrate better, are more interested in books later on, have wider vocabularies, better problem-solving skills and are better at maths.

“It is also really important that our boys, who often struggle more than girls with their literacy, see that reading is not just for the girls.”

“We are lucky in the Rockingham area because a lot of fathers are on shift or FIFO rosters which means they can be around a lot more for their kids during school times, the response by our dads in the school community has been fantastic and you can see the kids really appreciate it.”