Member for Pittwater Rob Stokes today welcomed the NSW Liberal’s Literacy and Numeracy Action Plan that will help children in Pittwater develop the essential foundations for success in literacy and numeracy.

Released during the same week as the Federal Government’s controversial ‘My School’ website, the Literacy and Numeracy Action Plan emphasises the NSW Coalition’s commitment to focus on the individual needs of students - rather than just ranking and comparing schools.

Our plan will:

· Move responsibility for preschools from the Department of Community Services to the Department of Education.

· Use Kindergarten screening assessments and other data to identify K-2 students at risk of not meeting literacy and numeracy standards.

· Provide an additional 900 teachers for the reading recovery program and expanding it to included both literacy and numeracy.

· Reallocate more than 300 K-2 Support Learning Assistants (STLA) to provide more intensive support to students in Years 3-10.

· Establish a Ministerial Working Group comprising educational experts to report annually on the performance of our Literacy and Numeracy Action Plan.

“It’s terrible that thousands of children throughout New South Wales are unable to adequately read, write or count by the time they finish primary school”, Rob Stokes said today.

“The Coalition’s plan involves identifying children with learning difficulties at the earliest opportunity to help ensure they get the extra support they need.

“Every child has the right to achieve in reading, writing and maths.

“Instead of focusing on which schools are performing better than others – let’s focus on ensuring equality and outcomes for all students.

“Our Action Plan aims to give children have necessary skills to transition from preschool to primary school and then onto high school.

 “The NSW Liberals and Nationals are determined to deliver a strong education system that promotes equity, as well as excellence”, Rob Stokes concluded.