Our learning support and mentoring programs in 90 Australian communities directly help children in need achieve their goals through education.
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11 August 2016
Dubbo local Dawn Redding recently celebrated 11 years in her role supporting the educational pursuits of local children through The Smith Family. “I secured the role of Learning for Life Program Coordinator when I was 19. I’d gone straight from high school to uni and stayed in Dubbo because I didn’t have the money to move away. For my first uni prac I did work experience with The Smith Family and was offered a job soon after. They were very supportive of me finishing my degree.
Ever since I did work experience here I’ve believed in The Smith Family’s mission. I know from my own experience growing up the struggles some families face. My dad couldn’t work and mum only stayed at school to year 10. She later finished at TAFE.
Getting to where I am today strengthens my belief in the value of education and I love to bring that opportunity to others through The Smith Family. I can really empathise with their situation.
"I know what it's like to go without because my family's circumstances meant I didn't always have the educational resources I needed.
Over the 11 years I've worked in this position I've assisted more than 500 students from disadvantaged backgrounds to navigate educational pathways and help them reach their full potential. I'm not seeing students who I signed on to the Learning for Life program back in primary school, going on to finish high school and make that all-important transition to further study or work, and I'm so proud of what we're achieving."
"I've seen many positive changes within the Dubbo community over the past decade, including better collaboration between support agencies which are now sharing resources and knowledge. These community partnerships have resulted in the success of the Let's Read and Let's Count programs, which assist pre-school children to develop literacy and numeracy skills respectively.
I like that my job offers something different every day. I work very closely with families, assisting students with educational pathways and then getting into schools to facilitate learning programs I can see are having a real impact."
I work very closely with families, assisting students with educational pathways and then getting into schools to facilitate learning programs I can see are having a real impact.
With the help The Smith Family programs, students are able to get the life changing out-of-school learning support they need to enhance their learning and development skills.
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