Universal Learning Solutions' County Director Sian Summers Issa and Jackline Karisa delivered three days of Jolly Phonics teacher training in Kericho and Narok at the beginning of October. Over 60 teachers and Head Teachers attended from the selected Pre-Primary schools attended. Before the end of the first day of training the teachers were already engaged and excited by the programme. Many were disappointed it was the school holiday and they could not go straight to their classes to teach! The trainers were warmly welcomed and hosted by the Anglican Churches of Kenya in both counties. The Arch Bishop was one of the guests of honour and he delivered a motivational speech for the teachers.
The fourth day of training was for the research team. A passionate and committed group of graduates were selected by the Churches. They worked with the team from Universal Learning Solutions to collect the baseline pupil data. They quickly mastered the programme and how to use the Jolly Monitor App. Once the schools opened the research team spent 4 days visiting the 31 schools to conduct over 1000 pupil assessments. The baseline assessment comprised of letter sounds, word reading and dictation tests. The same pupils will be assessed with the same tests at end-line in February 2021.
We are delighted to hear that the teachers and pupils are really embracing Jolly Phonics and are already in group 2 sounds after just two weeks! A special thanks to Jolly Learning Ltd for the donation of materials and training and to all the key stakeholders in each county for their commitment to this project.