Alan Duffy - Books In Homes Project

We were fortunate to have Henry Tuipe'a who is the Relationship Manager for Duffy Books in Homes as our guest speaker. 
 
 
Henry first became involved with Books in Homes 17 years ago as a Role Model at the Books in Homes School Assemblies.
The vision of the Books in Homes programme is to inspire a love of books in Duffy children so they become adults who have a love of reading.  This vision is achieved by:
Creating and enhancing the desire for children to read through book ownership.
Reaching out to an ever-widening range of children and communities.
Developing the programmes to meet the specific need and aspirations of our diverse communities.
 
The philosophy behind the progarmme is to break the cycle of 'booklessness'.  Children who can't read become adults who can't communicate.  Duffy Books in Homes focuses on lower decile schools.  Why?  Because over half the parents in decile one catchments are without a school qualification.  The children from these schools are most likely to come from bookless homes.  All the books are supplied by Scholastic NZ.  Each book has a sticky label which has the child's name in it as well as the name of the School and the  sponsor who has given the book.  The children treasure their books which they get to choose from a catalogue.  Children often choose to follow a series when selecting their books.  It is like having Christmas three times a year.  Remuera Rotary Club is the sponsor of this programme at Tamaki Primary School.
 
In addition to Duffy children receiving at least three books each per year, they have the  opportunity to earn more books through weekly 'Caught Being Good' awards.  This award not only reinforces positive behaviour, it places value on books as a reward.  The Scholastic Caught Being a Good Mum, Scholastic Caught Being a Good Dad and the Caught Being a Good Grandparent awards celebrate Mother's and Father's Day and Grandparents.  A book and certificate is awarded to parents and caregivers who have been reading to their children at home or at school.
 
Twelve million books have been given away since 1994.
 
The Mainfreight Award for Excellence in Attitude is presented at the end of year School Prizegiving to one student who has displayed all round excellence.  This award is sponsored by Mainfreight.
 
The Ready for Reading Programme (R4R) is the latest initiative launched by Duffy Books in Homes.  Preschoolers in equity funded centres are given the chance to choose their own books twice a year - just like the 'big chilren'.  Being able to start primary school with an established love of books makes the teachers' task that much easier.
 
Since its inception the Duffy programme has grown rapidly.  There are currently over 500 schools and 290 early childhood centres with over 100,000 children all receiving a minimum of three books per year.  It is hoped that in the next ten years, that this programme will be extended to the Pacific Islands.