North Family Early Literacy Award

City of Bunbury – City of Bunbury Libraries Literacy Festival

The Festival is the first time the City of Bunbury Libraries have delivered a coordinated, festival-style program focused on literacy. Rather than delivering literacy through individual or standalone programs, it brings together a curated two-week schedule of activities under a single theme, delivered across both Bunbury and Withers Libraries. This approach creates a structured and visible way of engaging the community, positioning literacy as something to be valued and celebrated rather than delivered only as routine programming.

Shire of Gingin (Lancelin Library) – Noongar Seasonal Early Literacy Backpacks

This initiative is an innovative early intervention program delivered through Gingin and Lancelin Public Libraries, designed to support children aged zero to three years and their families across the geographically dispersed Shire of Gingin. The program reimagines traditional library service delivery by offering portable, loanable literacy kits that embed reading, talking, singing, writing and play into everyday home environments. The initiative is unique within Western Australia, integrating the six Noongar seasons—Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba, and Kambarang—into early literacy resources. Each of the 24 themed backpacks combines Better Beginnings recommended books, high-quality developmental play materials, and custom-designed activities aligned with early childhood development frameworks. This place-based approach embeds Aboriginal knowledge into early learning, fostering cultural awareness alongside language and cognitive development. Developed in response to local need, the program is underpinned by Australian Early Development Census data indicating that 23% of children in the Shire of Gingin are developmentally at risk in language and cognition—above the State average. In response, the initiative delivers an accessible, flexible model that removes transport barriers and empowers caregivers as their child’s first teacher.

City of Gosnells – Learning Launchpad

The program embeds a play-based, family-centred approach to early literacy development within the community. With support from Better Beginnings grant funding, the program has rapidly evolved from a pilot into a sustainable and ongoing program at Gosnells Library. Designed for children aged three to five years, and their parents or caregivers, Learning Launchpad focuses on building school readiness through hands-on, engaging learning experiences. Sessions model practical, accessible strategies that families can confidently apply at home, strengthening parent capability and fostering positive learning behaviours beyond the Library setting.

City of Joondalup – Reading Ready Packs

The Reading Ready Packs are an early literacy resource designed for families with children in pre-primary or kindy who are learning to read and are intended to give parents confidence to support their children as they learn. Their aim is to support children who have begun explicit instruction on how to read, and to complement what they are learning at school – that is, recognising and identifying letter-sound relationships (for kindy children) and blending sounds together to read a word aloud (for pre-primary children). The packs also provide background information to parents about the process of learning to read. They were created by Ness Fryer, a Librarian at the City of Joondalup Libraries, in consultation with the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation (DSF) and with the financial support of the Better Beginnings Community Grants Program. 

City of Karratha – City of Karratha Libraries Lifelong Learning Program

The program includes the delivery of inclusive, accessible, community-focused early literacy initiatives designed to strengthen language and communication skills for children and families living in the Pilbara. Recognising that many families face barriers accessing library services due to distance, transport or work schedules, the initiative intentionally takes early literacy experiences beyond library walls and directly into the community. This initiative has expanded significantly through the delivery of visiting author programs featuring First Nations storyteller, artist and musician Gregg Dreise and early literacy author and poet Renae Hayward. Together, these programs created meaningful opportunities for children and caregivers across the City of Karratha’s four main towns (Karratha, Dampier, Roebourne and Wickham) to engage with storytelling, music, poetry, creativity and language. Sessions included Story Time, family after-school and home-school sessions, a poetry workshop, outreach programs and an adult learning opportunity. 

Shire of Narrogin – R.W. (Bob) Farr Memorial Library “Community Readers” National Simultaneous Storytime program

The Library has created a signature event that focuses on accessibility and community collaboration. The Community Readers NSS combines of a full animated story reading video along with a morning of themed learning and activity stations focused on sensory play, wellbeing and early literacy development. These community reader videos feature a diverse range of community members each taking part to share that selected story—including RSL representatives, SES volunteers, police, nurses, child health professionals, teachers, CEOs, library staff, Indigenous community members, Shire President and staff and community members with disabilities. This broad representation ensures that children see familiar, trusted faces from their own community reflected in the storytelling experience. The videos also have special animations and sound effects to bring the story to life. The video when accessed online has been manually closed-captioned to ensure everyone can have the same access and enjoyment.

Town of Victoria Park – Early Development Packs

The packs are available for loan, designed to support children before they begin formal schooling. Each pack consists of carefully selected games, books and activities to help nurture early development skills such as literacy, numeracy, social, emotional, fine motor and gross motor abilities. The packs include: First Nations Themed Numeracy Pack, First Nations Themed Literacy Pack, Emotional Skills Pack, Fine Motor Skills Pack, Gross Motor Skills Pack and the Social Skills Early Development Pack. Packs are suitable for children aged 18 months to 5 years.

City of Vincent – Vincent Book Fair 

The Vincent Book Fair is an annual program designed, developed and delivered by the City of Vincent Library in celebration of the International Day of Education. The program was developed with a focus on fostering early literacy through engaging with families, creating opportunities for choice and creating meaningful connections to quality books. This program was delivered in partnership with local booksellers within the City of Vincent community, who attend the library for an entire day with a large selection of high-quality, contemporary children’s and family reading materials. Families, including young children, are invited to browse together and select one book each to ‘purchase’, funded by the library and added to the collection, with the selector being invited to be the first to borrow it. Attendees then customise their own name tag that reads, ‘This book was chosen by [Name] for the 20[XX] annual Vincent Book Fair’ which is secured to the inside cover of the books. 

Shire of Williams – Rhyme Time Plus (Winner)

The program is designed to support both children and their caregivers by promoting early literacy, communication and play-based learning. It also aims to give parents practical ideas and confidence in how to engage their children in activities that encourage reading, writing, singing and imaginative play at home. Each session begins with a shortened Rhyme Time segment led by the regular facilitator. This familiar start helps provide continuity for the children, creating a sense of safety and comfort regardless of the setting. Through songs, rhymes, and actions, children are encouraged to participate, build confidence and develop early language skills. The session then moves into a themed story, often presented by a visiting specialist. These specialists may include speech pathologists or early childhood professionals. Following the structured activities, families take part in a relaxed period of free play, with fruit, treats and refreshments available. This informal time is a key feature of the program, as it allows children to explore and socialise while parents connect with one another and the visiting professional remains available to answer questions, offer advice, and discuss any concerns in either a group setting or one-on-one.

Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley – Giggle & Grow

Giggle & Grow is an early literacy and physical movement program (with some activities inspired by the KIDDO program), combined with songs, stories and conversation, lots and lots of conversation. Giggle & Grow uses the skill development concepts of story time: vocabulary, phonological awareness, STEM concepts and even narrative skills - in conjunction with physical movement activities such as walking on a 'balance beam' (a line of masking tape on the ground), tossing bean bags on to a target mat, jumping into a hoop and making animal sounds, for example. Giggle & Grow was designed with wiggly, jumpy, fidgety kids in mind. The kids that feel a bit too big for rhyme time and not yet able to sit still for story time. The program has demonstrated strong impact in supporting foundational literacy, physical development and community engagement within the community. Through the program, the Library has been able to reach families and children that might otherwise not interact with library services at all.