DEDICATED teachers went back to basics for a refresher session of the Jolly Phonics programme at the Durban School for the Hearing Impaired on February 9.

The KZN Department of Education, in collaboration with NPO Universal Learning Solutions, expanded the implementation of the Jolly Phonics pilot programme from February 8-13 thanks to a donation from the NFS Foundation.

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Grade 1 and 2 teachers from five schools that were part of the pilot last year received an exciting and engaging refresher session to ensure the building blocks are firmly in place for the teachers to get learners to begin their reading journeys.

The donation enabled the NPO to hand over helpful, colourful teaching resources to the schools involved in the programme, including big books, posters, and activity word cards.

Jolly Phonics is part of the NPO’s efforts to improve the reading and writing outcomes of early grade learners in the Umlazi district.

Dr Daisy Reddy, country director of Universal Learning Solutions, explained that Jolly Phonics is an evidence-based, fast-track English literacy programme that teaches the 42 sounds of the alphabet in a fun, child-centred manner.

“It is a very fun, play-based interactive method using a multisensory approach to develop the reading proficiency of young learners. The method focuses on recognition of sounds and words in an interactive manner using different strategies of sounding, blending and segmenting using actions, rhymes, stories and songs,” said Reddy.

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Following the training, the teachers will be mentored in online platforms and monitored by curriculum advisors and school departmental heads who will be provided with a monitoring app to document their findings in the classroom.

A “Jolly Lessons” app is also provided for parents so the fun-filled and multisensory approach to learning extends at home.

Nirishi Patel, CEO of NFS Group, said that education is a priority for the foundation and it aims to strengthen early learning initiatives embedded in lifelong learning.

“At the NFS Foundation, education is a priority as this ensures the development and growth of a nation,” said Patel.

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