Queenstown-based Hugo Charitable Trust is donating $100,000 to lift the literacy levels of Wakatipu High’s youngest students.
The school’s been concerned at the increasing number of new entrants with lower-than-expected reading and writing skills.
‘‘Students with low literacy skills may struggle to access the breadth of the curriculum on offer at Wakatipu High School (WHS) and risk becoming disengaged from school,’’ principal Oded Nathan says.
The $100,000 donation, through the WHS Foundation, will enable the school to increase the number of literacy support classes for Year 9 students.
It will provide professional development, too, for teachers to upskill in the science of reading.
Hugo Charitable Trust’s support also allows all junior students to access an online programme that’ll enable them to advance their literacy skills at home.
Trust chair and trustee Mark Owen says they’re thrilled to be helping lift students’ literacy levels.
His wife Maryanne’s late father, Hugh Green, who kickstarted the charity, believed education was the key to a better New Zealand, ‘‘and we hope this programme will lead the way in improving essential reading and writing skills of the students in our local area’’.
Nathan, meanwhile, says he can’t thank the trust enough for its support for WHS ‘‘and hence the Queenstown community’’.
