The Western Sydney Wanderers and University of Western Sydney have launched the “Read with a Wanderer” literacy program.
A joint partnership between Western Sydney Wanderers and the School of Education, University of Western Sydney, Read With A Wanderer is a literacy action program that aims to bring together schools, teachers and young people to improve literacy levels across Western Sydney.
The Western Sydney Wanderers have a strong philosophy of giving back to their community and believe that today’s launch will provide positive change in the region for years to come.
What is the “Read with a Wanderer” literacy program?
Together the Wanderers and the School of Education, UWS have developed an opportunity for students to write and produce their own storybook that will culminate in the best entries being read by a Wanderers player and filmed on video.
The key principles of the program are to encourage reading in the community by showcasing positive role models. These videos will be available for all schools across Western Sydney.
The Challenge for school students
- To write a story book and be selected by your school as the “Read with a Wanderer” entry
- To make the “Wanderers All Star Literacy Team of the Year” – 11 books will be selected, one representing every position on the field.
The Wanderers want to:
- Welcome your school to take the challenge to improve Literacy, not only in your school, but across the wider community
- See students writing stories for other children, so the wider community can benefit through raising literacy levels
- Work with schools to help children experience the enjoyment of reading by writing and exploring books
The ‘Read with a Wanderer’ program will see the development of an online library that will continue to grow each year. This process will allow the recordings of the “winning stories” to be stored online so they can be accessed by anyone, at any time.
The competition will provide the Wanderers the opportunity to celebrate the great writing talent in the community and provide access to Wanderers role models to inspire students to be seen actively reading and enjoying the collection of stories that will grow in numbers and diversity year by year. Primary education students from the School of Education, UWS will act as mentors to assist students with their writing.
The purpose is to improve writing skills, reading skills, and to provide opportunity for developing creativity in the students.
All winning books entered by their school each year will receive a “Wanderers Literacy Award” for contributing to the improvement of literacy across Western Sydney. Your book will then automatically go into the judging for the Wanderers All Star Literacy Team of the Year.
For 11 lucky entrants the Wanderers and UWS will select the:
Wanderers All Star Literacy TEAM of the Year
This TEAM will have their storybook:
- Read and be filmed by a Western Sydney Wanderer player (or executive member, coach, manager)
- The recording and book will be placed in the Wanderers online library
- A hard copy of the book will be printed and signed by the player who selected their book to read.
This book will be presented back to the “author” at a celebration event to be held annually. This celebration will involve the Wanderers players, the student “authors”, Read with a Wanderer mentors from UWS, and the parents and teachers who assisted in running the program.
For more information or for teachers to sign their school up please email community@wswanderersfc.com.au
