THE Goulburn Post has donated newspapers to several local schools as part of an exciting new learning initiative.
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The launch of the ‘Newspapers In Education’ program took place at Bradfordville Public School last Friday.
Mayor Geoff Kettle and sponsors Paul Scott-Williams of the Goulburn Conservatorium of Music, Kimberly Whittle of Athletes Foot and Emma Richards and Matthew Moore of Lilac City Cinema were there to present the newspapers to students.
“For the conservatorium it will be a really valuable outreach opportunity because we’re an education institution, like schools,” Mr Scott-Williams said on the day.
“I’m really keen to try and establish closer links with our local schools in different creative ways and I think this is one way of connecting with the kids in the area and helping them understand a little bit more about what we do at the conservatorium and they might like to be involved in it,” he said.
Each week a page of activities will be presented to the children inside the newspapers free of charge.
The learning initiative aims to get years five and six students motivated to discover local news and develop their thinking and reading skills as well as general knowledge.
The names of high achieving students will be printed each week in the “Student Achievers” section of the Goulburn Post.
Mayor Geoff Kettle spoke on behalf of the council.
“These activities that have been put in the papers give kids the opportunity to get used to newspapers and to get used to what’s going on around them in the world,” he said.
“It’s an introduction to basic media. By only looking at these pages they’ll be encouraged to look at the rest of the paper and get a feel of what’s actually going on around them.”
Liz Zelencich, an employee of Fairfax Media (publisher of the Goulburn Post) is the co-ordinator of Newspapers In Education and designs the pages for the children. Liz has a Diploma of Teaching from the Australian Catholic University and a Bachelor of Education from Ballarat University.
She has taught for many years in primary and secondary schools and has been a lecturer at TAFE in Information Technology. With its successful launch at Bradfordville, the sponsors, Mayor Kettle and the Goulburn Post hope to extend the program to other schools in the area. Enquiries from schools are welcome. Contact Greg at the Post on 4827 3536 or email sales.goulburpost@ruralpress.com.
