Learning Links - Parramatta Leagues Club

Learning Links CEO Birgitte Maibom and General Manager Don Tilley visited Parra Leagues on Thursday 25 March 2021 to meet with three of our Directors Richard Foda, Phil Sim and Sue Coleman.

Parramatta Leagues Club has been a great long-term supporter of Learning Links – contributing over $54,000 in funding for school-based programs over the last three years. In 2020, Parramatta Leagues Club assisted the awesome work of Learning Links, by donating to their program at Yates Ave Public School.

A Learning Links speech pathologist worked at Yates Ave Public School across Term 4 2020 to help students with their speech and communication that is significantly impacting their learning. The focus at the school was on implementing an early intervention model to help identify students in the early stages of schooling who are at risk of poor academic outcomes due to underlying speech and/or language learning difficulties. This included helping students with speech sound disorders, phonological awareness skills and reading comprehension skills.

The interventions helped increase their confidence to speak up, contribute to class discussions and convey their interests and needs. Twenty-three children were supported directly. This support consisted of whole class work, small group, and one-on-one sessions for those that required more intensive support. The whole class support provided intervention to many students at one time. In the whole class support sessions, their pathologist was able to model “teacher talk” strategies that enabled students with language disorders to fully participate in the lesson. They were also able to model a classroom-based approach to language development and show how techniques can be used across different and varied tasks. Their speech pathologist was able to support the students to access aspects of the curriculum that have been previously out of reach due to their underlying learning challenges.

Learning links stated “We were thrilled to meet with members of their Board this month, to celebrate the success of our partnership and discuss future opportunities for the club to provide funding and volunteering support for programs in their local community that empower children to learn”

Learning Links receives funding from a number of different Clubs for projects in different LGAs.  Our combined support has been named as a finalist in the Clubs in Collaboration Award for the NSW Clubs and Community Awards.  Details about this can be viewed on our website: Dual Finalist for 2021 Clubs & Community Awards – Parra Leagues