Reading Together® at the Refugee Orientation Centre Trust

March 2023

The following 16 March 2023 comments are from a Refugee Orientation Centre Trust (ROC) Facebook post:

ROC is now two sessions into the new Reading Together® programme, thanks to Paul, our Community Mobiliser, and Ruth, who teaches the programme.
This programme is a great addition to what ROC can offer, and we can see this kind of parent-support is very much needed by the communities we serve.

The following 28 March 2023 comments are from a Refugee Orientation Centre Trust Facebook post (with photos here):

Reading Together®'s second and third workshops have successfully been completed. It's wonderful to see how dedicated and engaged the Congolese community's lovely parents are in the programme, it is clear they are excited to gain more skills to better support their children.
Thank you to Ruth, our After School teacher, who made Kinyarwanda translations of the stories so the children could learn English this way.

The following 31 March 2023 comments are from a Refugee Orientation Centre Trust Facebook post (with photos here):

The Reading Together® programme workshop started on March 2 and ended yesterday. This is a programme comprising 4 workshops over 7 weeks, with each workshop lasting 1 hour and 15 minutes.
The Reading Together® programme is a best-practice example of an approach that enables parents and communities to support their children's learning.
Workshops hosted by families from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The fact that families were gathering at various families' homes was amazing.
Another productive workshop came to a close with a celebration to award the certificates.
We couldn't have carried out the workshops without the support and passion of Paul Bifuko Kumbuka, Umutoni Zaninka, and Ruth Toddler.
This is one of the community healing programmes within our theme for this year, which is healing communities.

November 2023

The following November 2023 comments are from a Refugee Orientation Centre Trust (ROC) Facebook post (with photos here):

Reading Together® is a gold standard, research-based workshop programme which helps parents/whānau to provide effective support for their children's reading (and thereby also supports teachers in their classroom programmes).
Beginning on Thursday, November 16, a series of four workshops took place. It's incredible how eager families are to attend and encourage the development of their kids as readers.
I appreciate Ruth and Paul Kumbuka leading the workshop.
We appreciate the Ministry of Education's kind support of communities.

The following November 2023 comment was made in response to this Refugee Orientation Centre Trust (ROC) LinkedIn post on their Reading Together® implementation:

Jacqueline Wilton General Manager at ChangeMakers Resettlement Forum | Leading successful resettlement.
Such a wonderful programme...I was involved in one in Porirua about 5 years ago and the results were amazing. Great job ROC.

September 2024

The following 6 September 2024 comments are from a Refugee Orientation Centre Trust (ROC) Facebook post (with photos here):

Our hearts are full after completing our 2nd Reading Together® programme. Witnessing the Afghan community come together to support their children's education and foster a love of reading has been incredibly meaningful. Together, we're building a brighter future, one book at a time. ❤️