The Victorian Government’s ‘Prep Bags’ are back, with every eager young student starting prep at a government school in 2022 to receive a library bag containing a bundle of books and resources, helping encourage a lifelong love of reading and learning.
On Monday 31 January, the Minister for Education James Merlino unveiled the 2022 prep bags, which were delivered to about 65,000 preps in 1,300 Victorian government primary, P-12, special and language schools.
The mix of items is designed to help prep students celebrate the beginning of their school journey, helping them learn and thrive at home as well as in the classroom from the start of Term 1.
The five books included in this year’s bags are ‘The Unwilling Twin’ by Freya Blackwood; ‘I Spy Victoria’ by Jeannette Rowe; ‘Hark, It’s Me, Ruby Lee!’ by Lisa Shanahan; ‘I saw Pete and Pete saw me’ by Maggie Hutchings; and ‘Pink!’ by Margaret Wild.
To make sure every young Victorian can enjoy these books, they will also be produced in Braille with tactile illustrations by Statewide Vision Resource Centre for prep students who are blind or have low vision.
The Prep Bags also include a ‘Meet the Mathscots’ animated series ruler to support students with numeracy; a ‘Get Your Move On’ frisbee to encourage increased daily physical activity; and a ‘Soapy Heroes’ insert including fact sheet and colouring-in activity to promote the importance of hand hygiene and book labels.
Mr Merlino said that it was great to see so many young students eager to get back into the classrooms and make use of this fantastic scheme.
“Our Prep Bags are always a hit with students – encouraging a love of reading from their very first moments at school, and giving them something to take home to keep learning and having fun with,” he said.
“Good luck to all our preps starting school in 2022 – I hope you have a fantastic start to your schooling journey and enjoy all the opportunities available to you.”
Through this program, the state government hopes to continue building Victoria, ‘the education state’, so that every student has the opportunity to access a great local school and a quality education.
In 2022, 14 new schools will open across the state as part of the government’s work to build 100 new schools between 2019 and 2026, delivering a quality education for students in the state’s fastest-growing areas.
