Following last year’s immensely successful I Can Read campaign, we had the great pleasure recently of delivering over 1000 readers to Vila East Primary School to the delight of staff and students alike. From The Dinosaur Dance to Ants Can’t Read, the books are already being enjoyed by Junior Primary students (ages 5-8) in the school’s new Melanie Jewson Foundation Reading Resource Room.

One of the MJF’s crucial guiding principals when it comes to donating resources (whether they be medical or educational), is that of autonomy. It was important to us that senior staff at Vila East Primary School selected and ordered the books themselves, ensuring the significant investment from the Foundation is needed and will be used.

Playful and culturally relevant, the readers fill a massive gap in the school’s resources and include titles designed for guided reading, big books, teacher resource and take-home readers. Equipping a school like Vila East Primary with these supplies is just one small part of the plan to start improving literacy levels across the archipelago.