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Childcare Centre in WA Introduces Jolly Phonics to Rave Reviews

Announcement posted by Cuddles Childcare Centre 18 Oct 2013

Cuddles Childcare Centres reveal why WA parents and teachers alike are so impressed with Jolly Phonics.
Perth, WA, October 18, 2013 - In March of this year, Cuddles Childcare Centres in WA added Jolly Phonics to their weekly activities. Jolly Phonics was founded in 1977 in the UK by two primary/elementary school teachers who were concerned about students who were being “left behind” by standard methods of teaching.

They would teach Jolly Phonics for 15 years before they were convinced to share the method via “The Phonics Handbook” in 1992. They would then add more products, conduct trainings and their method would eventually be taught in 68% of UK schools.

Jolly Phonics teaches children the 42 letter sounds of the alphabet in seven different groups. The children then blend the sounds together to form words. As they learn the sounds, the teacher traces the letter names and has the children trace in the air with their fingers.

By the time all of the techniques are combined, children use auditory, speech, visual and kinaesthetic senses for each letter sound. This is important, because it ensures that children of all learning styles are given ample opportunities to learn.

Since March, students have learned many of the letter sounds but they have also learned cognitive skills that will serve them well when they reach school. They learn to listen and identify sounds and how to combine those sounds into words. They have gotten great exposure and mental exercise by tracing the letters.

Children who receive instruction in Jolly Phonics before entering school have proven to be far more prepared to learn reading and writing than those who have received no instruction at all.

Michelle Novatscou, Operations Manager of three Cuddles Childcare Centres in Western Australia, thought that Jolly Phonics would be a natural fit for their “Learning Through Play” mission and was able to add it to the Cuddles Childcare Centres curriculum in March of this year.

She knew that Jolly Phonics had been successful in many early learner situations and wanted to add something that would enrich the lives of the children in her centres' care, while making sure that the overall daycare experience for the children was the first priority.

According to Miss Novatscou, “We thought Jolly Phonics would be a great fit for what we are doing here at Cuddles Childcare Centres, but we had no idea just how great a fit it would be. We believe in learning through play and Jolly Phonics, while definitely a learning experience, feels a lot more like play with the way we teach it here. Children learn better when they are playing and learning voluntarily. Jolly Phonics uses cartoon-like characters as teaching tools and it is a natural for early learners.”

Miss Novatscou continued, “We are seeing children learn the basics and become much more prepared for school than those who don't have the advantage of Jolly Phonics. While we don't have anyone reading books or writing sentences yet, we have seen some children able to write words already, just by sounding them out the way Jolly Phonics teaches.”

Miss Novatscou concluded, “We have a lot of great programs here that mix fun with learning, such as Jessie's Art Time, Messy Play, Junior Soccer Goals and Friday Fun Day, and we are very happy that Jolly Phonics has been such a hit with children, educators and parents alike.”

Cuddles Childcare Centres in WA have three locations whose motto is “Learning Through Play.” To learn more about Jolly Phonics or learning through play, call a centre near you:

Carlisle (08) 9472 4702
St. James (08) 9358 4673
Bertram (08) 9419 1844

You can also visit their website: http://www.cuddleschildcare.com.au/