Reading skills will be under focus in homes across the Upper Ross in Townsville over coming weeks as Rasmussen State School students rise to a challenge put to them today by their school principal, Wingate Properties and a number of special visitors from the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys.
The Wingate Properties Reading Challenge was launched at the school today, designed to reward the boy and girl in each grade whose reading improves most over the remainder of the term.
The challenge winners from each grade will be rewarded with Cowboys prizes, kindly donated by Wingate.
“We have a sharp focus to lift reading levels across the whole school and, when we came up with the idea of the challenge, Wingate Properties and the Cowboys came on board immediately,” Rasmussen State School principal Claudine Moncur said.
Also attending the launch was Wingate Properties general manager Chris Hall, who described the challenge as a 'fantastic initiative'.
“We've been working closely with Rasmussen State School and the Cowboys through our Adopt-a-School partnership for some time now,” he said.
“The Wingate Properties Reading Challenge will have a direct impact on improving the reading levels of students at Rasmussen and we were very happy to be able to help."
The Cowboys' contingent at the event included NYC under 20s player Akeripa (Lipa) Tia Kilifi and crowd favourites Bluey and Miss Moo.
“We wanted to really get the kids stirred up and focused on the announcement of the challenge today,” Lipa said.
"Good reading skills are such an important foundation."
