| Name of School / Centre / Community: | Blackwell Public School |
| Town and State: | St Clair, New South Wales |
| Summary (Books in Homes to fill out): | Western Sydney government school |
| Website: | www.blackwell-p.schools.nsw.gov.au |
| Year Range: | Kindergarten to Year 6 |
| No of Students: | 514 |
| ICSEA: | 981 |
| Indigenous Students %: | 7% |
| LBOTE* %: | 26% |
| School Description | Blackwell Public School is a primary school located in St Clair, Western Sydney. Our school is one of many in the area, servicing 514 students. Our school’s virtues are: Good manners, Good learning and Good thinking. Our community is hard working and doing their best to raise their children and ensure they receive the education they deserve. We feel education is the key to success and is the heart of our school. We believe that despite disadvantage and the circumstances that many of our families face, every child has a right to education and equal opportunity. We have a home reading program and students borrow from our library, but we would like children to have the opportunity to own their own books and have a love of reading. I was fortunate to be involved in the program at my previous school and I was heartened by the increase in students who became engaged in reading. Family connections with the school were enhanced as the gift of books was greatly received for many families with limited resources. After returning to school following the disruption of covid we are facing students who have increased their use of screens and disengaged from books. I believe involvement in Books into Homes will be a great motivator to step away from screens and have foster a love of reading. |
| Principal’s Statement | Blackwell Public school is a school in St Clair, Western Sydney. Many of our students are from low-socio economic backgrounds and sadly, some of our students are in Out of Home Care or have a trauma related background. We make it a point to ensure our students have opportunities that their peers would have in more affluent areas. This includes an emphasis on reading for pleasure – through borrowing from the library and opportunities for home reading. Our ongoing goal for all students is to develop a love of reading quality texts. Literacy milestones for all students are reviewed every ten weeks ensuring students stay on track with their reading for understanding and comprehension. We provide targeted Professional Learning for staff in reading and support in classrooms. Some of our families have fallen on hard times and as a result, books are something that they are unlikely to prioritise. We have partnered with Food Bank and Secondbite to ease some of the burden families face. We are seeking sponsorship to help us support the reading of books and valuing reading within the home. We invest in developing our library and home reading resources every year, ensuring each classroom has access to books for Guided reading, Modelled reading, Drop Everything and Read time and for reading at home but we can only do so much. We know that if we can increase students having access to books in their home, then we will increase literacy outcomes and will move quicker towards our school reading goals; nurturing the lives of our students, family and community. |
| Annual Sponsorship Cost (Books in Homes to fill out): | $48,516.46 (ex GST) per annum across three terms for the standard three book program. |
| Additional Comments (Books in Homes to fill out): | Two sponsors could support the school by paying $24,258.23 (ex GST) each, and three Sponsors could support the students by paying $16,172.15 (ex GST) each. The school also qualifies for the two book program. |
| More Information: | If you’re interested in sponsoring this school or require additional information, please phone Peter Large on 0420 984 970 or email: peterlarge@booksinhomes.com.au |
