ABOUT US:
Keith Davies
Keith Davies is a specialist business writer and the author of numerous business books. He has a vast journalistic background that includes British dailies, the BBC, and 60 Minutes and 20/20. On the creative side, he was a multi-award-winning copywriter and creative director of Bates Advertising and McCann Erickson. A Welshman, Keith lives in New Zealand.
Books In Homes
The philosophy behind the programme is simple - to break the cycle of 'booklessness'. Kids who can't read become adults who can't communicate and that's a serious disadvantage in a world that operates on the written word.
The schools are selected from areas where the children are most likely to come from bookless homes. The Ministry of Education allocates schools a decile rating of between one and ten, according to the socio-economic status of the community in which a school is based. Duffy Books in Homes focuses on lower decile schools. Why? Because over half the parents in decile one catchments are without a school qualification. Furthermore, 42 percent of parents in decile one catchments received income support in the year preceding the 1996 Census, compared to just seven percent for decile ten catchment areas. Quite simply, the children from these schools are most likely to come from bookless homes.
Alan's self-help philosophy is reflected by the fact that each school joins in a financial partnership with their sponsors to fund their books. There are approximately 75 titles per Book Offer and these titles are different from one offer to the next. Duffy Coordinators and Principals at Book Selection meetings conducted by Duffy Books in Homes choose these titles. All books for Book Offers One, Two, and Three are supplied by Scholastic NZ. Each book has a sticky label which has the child's name in it as well as the name of the school and sponsor who have given the book.
Since its inception, the programme has grown rapidly. There are currently 555 schools with over 100,000 kids all receiving a minimum five books per year.
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