Imagine a world where every child in Southland—no matter their background—has the tools and support to unlock their full potential. It’s a world where no child is left behind, where all children can read confidently, setting them up for a lifetime of success. That’s the vision behind the Southland Literacy Fund, and with your help, we can make it a reality.
Southland Literacy Fund
In 2024, a local couple who saw their own child struggle to learn to read decided to take action. Their son struggled with reading. It wasn’t until he received personalised, one-on-one support from a literacy teacher that his reading began to flourish. It was an experience that changed their family’s life, and they knew they wanted to help other children facing the same challenges.
This led to the creation of the Southland Literacy Fund —a dedicated fund with the goal of ensuring that every child in Southland has the opportunity to achieve a good level of literacy.
The couple’s experience highlighted a critical need for early intervention, and this fund was formed with a clear purpose: to provide financial support to ensure that all children in the region can become confident readers early in their educational journey.
To this end, Southland Foundation is partnering with schools and literacy experts to achieve this goal.
Pilot Programme
Through consultation with local educators, school principals, and literacy support
specialists, the Foundation identified an oral language programme to support literacy acquisition. This oral language initiative focuses on developing oral language skills in five-year-olds who need extra support—an essential foundation for reading success.
The programme works by providing early, targeted, support for young children,
particularly in their formative years, when language and communication skills are most
malleable. By developing language skills that enable a student to listen, speak, understand, and use language meaningfully, this programme builds a strong literacy foundation that children can build on as they grow. This early intervention complements and strengthens the literacy support already offered in schools, further enhancing students' learning experiences.
Thanks to our donor’s commitment, two Invercargill primary schools have been funded to pilot this programme in 2025. Helen Campbell, who has decades of experience as a literacy support specialist, will initially co-ordinate the programme, providing training and ongoing support to experienced teacher aides who will work 1-1 with the children. As well as to immediately assist the children in the programme, the goal is to assess the programme's impact through measurable outcomes and data, testing its feasibility and effectiveness, before expanding it to other schools in the region.
Kerry Hawkins, Principal of Waverley Park School and one of the schools participating in the pilot, expressed his gratitude in response to the incredible generosity of our local donors: "Before writing comes reading; before reading comes talking. Before talking in sentences comes thinking in sentences. This Southland Literacy Fund initiative will help kids build the oral foundations essential for success in reading and writing. Quite simply: thank you."
Why your support matters
We’re excited to share that we have secured direct funding to complete the pilot year of the programme in 2025. To expand this initiative and reach children across the entire region, we’ll need to build on our fund.
The pilot year of the Southland Literacy Fund will provide valuable insights, but to extend its impact across the region, we need ongoing support. Your donation will help us roll out the programme more widely, ensuring every child who needs a literacy boost can access it.
If you’d like to learn more about supporting the fund or how you can get involved, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Together, we can make a meaningful difference.
