The Gore Family Foundation hosted three workshops, two during April and one in May to train our Play & Stay Coaches in preparation for the May 13 start-up date for the Reach Up and Learn programme.
In brief – Reach Up and Learn comprises:
Goals for the Mother / (Parent)
- Gain knowledge and insight on how a child develops
- Improve the child’s oral communication and reading skills, interact in a fun way
- Improve a child’s self-confidence as well as the parent’s enjoyment in rearing her child
For the Child:
- Improve language, reading skills and intellectual development
- Improve behaviour, social and emotional development
Why Reach Up and Learn?
- 3-6 year olds learn very quickly; soaking up information and knowledge
- Children learn by looking, touching, hearing and smelling everything around them
- Develop socially by being with others and enjoying their mother’s time and attention
- Learning even faster when:
- Engaged in conversations
- Looking at books with mother
- Playing with young children by way of puzzles and simple toys
- Mothers learn too from each other and our Play & Stay Coach hosting the session; see the benefits for their child first hand
All our coaches completed the training and were successful participants as well as motivated and eager to start the programme, and for it to be a success.
Dr. Susan Chang Lopez who heads up the project at UWI, is now observing the coaches’ teaching in the schools as the programme gets underway. The four (4) schools chosen to host the programme are:
- St. Anne’s Infants / 5 children
- Arnold Road Basic School / 4 children
- Sandy Park Basic School / 4 children
- Gospel Refuge Basic School / 4 children
The response so far has been excellent and met with enthusiasm by all those involved; with parents accompanying the children selected and engaging with our coaches. The week commencing May 22, 2017 will see our coaches ‘going it alone’ with the children, teachers and parents for one (1) hour weekly sessions until July 7, 2017.
Both UWI’s Dr. Chang-Lopez and Ms. Christine Powell will be monitoring the programme overall.
