Transforming education for students with learning difficulties

For the past seven years, Canterbury League Club in partnership with Learning Links, Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL, Campsie RSL, and The Lantern Club, have been pushing transformative change to education outcomes of over 600 students in local primary schools.

Learning Links, using the combined funding from the four clubs, have been visiting schools to provide individual and small group interventions to students experiencing learning difficulties through their Reading for Life and Counting for Life programs. The programs help children develop important skills such as language, literacy, numeracy, and practical life skills which in turn boosts their confidence, social skills, and emotional well-being.

“Without support, children who have fallen behind their peers are at serious risk of disengagement from learning, depression and low self-esteem, loneliness, bullying, decreased motivation and unemployment in the future, just to name a few,” said Birgitte Maibom, CEO of Learning Links.

The funding will also be used to cover several parent workshops in Term 2 and Term 3 which will focus on improving their knowledge and capacity to support their children with learning difficulties at home.

“With this support, Learning Links can address the educational challenges faced by children in the Canterbury-Bankstown community, helping to reshape their future trajectories and mitigate the risk of long-term disadvantage,” states Ms Maibom.

“Programs like Learning Links are crucial in identifying children who have fallen through the gap and then empowering educators and parents with the necessary skills to support them – the goal is to provide these children with as many opportunities to reach their full potential in order to achieve success later in life,” said Peter Winchester, Chairman of Canterbury League Club.