By Callum Ludwig
Reading opens up an exciting and creative avenue to learning for young students as well as providing a great opportunity for home learning too.
The Lilydale Library’s Flexi Van is doing its best to make sure all students have the opportunity to access a variety of great books regularly with visits to schools and preschools around the Yarra Ranges, including Warburton Primary School.
Senior Customer Service and Flexi Outreach Literacy Officer at Lilydale Library Tiffani Lucas said she thinks it’s an incredibly important thing that they do.
“Getting the books out to them is a great way to get kids borrowing and reading which we all know is great for learning and reading skills but it also makes it fun, as we hold a storytime session out there,” she said.
“Particularly for Warburton Primary, the whole school gets the opportunity to borrow because they are quite a small school up there, it’s really important that we help facilitate them in that way and help them get the kids borrowing more and reading more.”
The flexi van visits are fortnightly, with the other week’s slot dedicated to visiting aged care facilities, ensuring some of our oldest and youngest residents are getting their book fix.
Ms Lucas said establishing the connection between schools and libraries is vital.
“Sometimes they just can’t get to the library, so this is a great way we can just jump in while the kids are at school. It’s a free service, it doesn’t cost anyone anything to use the library,” she said.
“We had been off the road for about 18 months now, we returned for a little bit in a small capacity, it was hard with different restrictions but we are so excited now to be back and the schools and preschools were so excited to welcome us back.”
The flexi van service visits a number of schools and preschools across the Yarra Ranges, including:
Warburton Primary School, Gladysdale Primary School, Seville Primary School, Silvan Primary School, Fernhill Preschool, Monbulk Preschool, Sassafras Preschool, Badger Creek Preschool, Millgrove Preschool, Woori Yallock Preschool and Coldstream Preschool.
Warburton Primary School Principal Nathan Van Der Monde said it is a great resource because it gives students the ability to access a much wider range of texts than they otherwise would have.
“We’re very excited to have them on board, they have made the application process for an account very easy so our students can get their own library card and borrow. Once they build that skill, it becomes a habit of theirs and we are hoping they will continue to use those services,” he said.
“The student’s reaction was very positive, they were already very excited and once they saw the van, the anticipation was building. It’s nice building a connection wth out local libraries making them a relevant part of students’ learning, they are even going to bring some more challenging texts for our grade 5s and 6s next time.”
