The Bermuda Reading Association is turning over a new leaf under the direction of a new president, Darnell Wynn.

"In the past, the Bermuda Reading Association has been primarily involved with supporting an annual reading conference and Reading in the Park for the Bermuda community," said Ms Wynn. "Today, more is needed to be done to lift literacy education of the Bermuda community at large."

To this end, Ms Wynn, a reading specialist teacher trainer, will give a seminar, 'Teaching for Strong Early Reading Behaviours to Prevent Readers Who Struggle', on October 23.

The following day the association will hold a fund-raising walk and run at the Botanical Gardens in Paget at 9 a.m. "The Bermuda Reading Association aims to provide Bermuda's community with a viable network for literacy education and support," said Ms Wynn.

In addition to a new vision and mission statement, a new logo was created to capture the essence of the work to be done.

"Central to our new goals is community-wide education about literacy issues such as learning disabilities, myth or fact," said Ms Wynn. "We will be looking at the importance of qualified reading specialists to work with readers who struggle; ongoing teacher professional development to hone instructional skills; evaluation of quality literacy intervention services that will make a difference and an outreach to community organisations helping young children with literacy support."

This month, the Bermuda Reading Association held several parenting seminars on reading.

"Parents are widely concerned about how to assist at home and more importantly, to understand the teaching practices of the early years that will ensure their children acquire good reading habits right from the start," said Ms Wynn. "There will be a follow-up training seminar for teachers of the early years, providing research based teaching strategies for the classrooms.

The seminar will be held on October 23 at the Bermuda Red Cross from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. This year's education conference, 'A Three-Tiered Approach: Instruction, Intervention and Parenting for Literacy', will run from February 25 to 26 at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess and will provide sessions for parents, teachers and the community at large.

"The Bermuda Reading Association sees a clear need to marry these three areas in order for us to achieve better reading proficiency for our children," said Ms Wynn.

For more information visit www.bermudareading.org or call 535-8035.