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- Literacy programs
  Providing resources and support to help children living with disadvantage achieve the required reading standard.
- Technology programs
  Providing children and young people living with disadvantage with the critical skills, access, and equipment they need.
- Numeracy programs
  We support early years educators and community professionals in building foundational math skills in children under their care.
- Learning for Life
  Providing holistic, long-term support for disadvantaged young Australians throughout their education.
- Mentoring programs
  Mentoring programs for students living with disadvantage that provide the encouragement they need to build aspirations for their future.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs
  Our work engages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in learning through education, life skills and role models, promoting culturally responsive practice.
Our learning support and mentoring programs in 90 Australian communities directly help children in need achieve their goals through education.
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Letter to the Editor: Smith Family earns HD

Media releases

30 April 2016

The solution to improving Australia's literacy and numeracy skills and Year 12 completion rates, particularly among disadvantaged students, (“Spend money on education or build more jails”, April 29) lies less in deeper pockets and more in directing funds to programs that deliver results.

Recently we’ve seen a range of reports – from the Australian Early Development Census, Grattan Institute and now the Australian Education Union – highlighting the large gap between the educational achievements of students from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.

This week The Smith Family also released a report – on the strong results being achieved by highly disadvantaged students on its core Learning for Life program. Despite their severe disadvantage, seven out of 10 students on the program are completing Year 12. Over the last four years, the program has supported 6,500 young Australians to complete Year 12.

Australia has a long history of funding educational programs for disadvantaged students, but there’s been insufficient attention to assessing whether they improve student outcomes.

Published in the Sydney Morning Herald 30 April 2016

Media contacts:

Andrew Dickson | National Media Manager (National) - 0421 285 529 | andrew.dickson@thesmithfamily.com.au
Carla Horton | Senior Media Advisor (QLD & WA) - 0423 618 776 | carla.horton@thesmithfamily.com.au
Reid Jermyn | Media Advisor (VIC, SA & NT) - 0412 803 566 | reid.jermyn@thesmithfamily.com.au
Ben Chenoweth | Senior Media Advisor (NSW, ACT & TAS) - 0413 346 934 | ben.chenoweth@thesmithfamily.com.au

The Smith Family is a national children’s education charity that helps young Australians experiencing disadvantage to create better futures for themselves through harnessing the power of education. We partner with around 800 Australian schools and work with over 162,000 children and young people experiencing disadvantage access our education support programs to help them overcome . For more information, visit thesmithfamily.com.au