Announcing our community partnership with Square Pegs

We are thrilled to announce a new Community Partnership with Tasmanian organisation Square Pegs Dyslexia Support. 

Square Pegs is a small, hard-working and high achieving not for profit organisation that provides advice, information and programs to improve outcomes for children with dyslexia. 

Founded by current Chairperson Amelia Jones and Georgina Porter, Square Pegs will mark its tenth anniversary in October this year and is looking forward to growing its operations and services to meet the increasing demand for support, education and services to the statewide community.

Amelia and the entire voluntary board are incredibly proud of the achievements over the past decade, and know the time is right to embark on taking Square Pegs to the next level.

“Our vision is for all children to enjoy learning and to reach their potential,” Amelia shares.

“Through raising awareness of dyslexia and related specific learning disabilities (SLD) we are able to empower children, young people and their families.”

“We also have a commitment to building community capacity, right around Tasmania. We deliver programs and workshops for educators and parents, as well as support and literacy boost remediation for children from low SES backgrounds.”

Dyslexia is more common than many people realise, impacting at least ten per cent of the population – which equates to more than 8,000 Tasmanian school children.

Amelia says the lack of awareness and access to resources means that many students are being denied access to equal educational opportunities.

“Literacy is an equity issue. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness, and often limited access to timely assessments, means that many children are left without proper recognition or support.”

Square Pegs Empowerment Camp 2023

“The funding provided by WLF will be used to offer 15 fully funded places to attend the Square Pegs two-day empowerment camp.”

“Our camps are a powerful tool to build young people’s confidence and capacity to self-advocate, as well as access peer support and build connections.  And the connections and support are equally as important for the parents and families.”

“We will be extending the funded places to low SES families (one child & a parent/carer) thanks to the support of WLF.” 

With such a strong response to the Expressions of Interest in our new Community Partnership Program the selection process was a difficult one internally for our team. The WLF panel was delighted to see the variety of important and valuable work being done by so many organisations across our community.  As a firm we want to acknowledge the work that occurs at a community level right around Tasmania. 

WLF is recognised for our strong commitment to supporting our local community and believe we have a responsibility to help build capacity at an economic and social level. And that’s the basis of this new Community Partnership Program.

Our team is looking forward to working closely with Square Pegs over the coming two years to provide support, share knowledge, celebrate their stories and uncover opportunities for mutual growth.

You can find out more about dyslexia in this information and heartwarming video from Square Pegs.