The objective of bringing Jolly Phonics and Grammar to Oakridge Mohali was to further streamline the English curriculum and pedagogy across the grades and range of curriculums, where the learners are skilled to groom into confident users of the language. In this programme, learners use the knowledge of regular phonic sounds, spelling rules, and patterns to read words beyond their age level.

The initiative based on the need to improve the reading skills inspired the facilitators to develop professional skills and knowledge of the pedagogy of English phonics. Starting from two facilitators taking induction at a personal level initiated the spark to create a chain reaction as the impact of the programme was understood.

The wave of change:

• Pedagogy and enhancement of 21^st century skills: Enhanced pictorial, graphic and lexical comprehension of the language is used by the learners to grow as creative thinkers and skilled communicators who can transfer the learning to research and enhance the conceptual understandings across disciplines.
• Inculcating love for the language: A digital vocabulary programme, structured pedagogy of grammar, dictionary skills and proofreading for punctuation helped students take ownership of the learning, further creating a chain of inspiration among students.
• Improved student performance: The programme brought innovation and problem solving with enhanced results for students and increased level of satisfaction on the continuous path of learning and growth for the teachers and parents. National Benchmarking tests like ASSET and Olympiads supported the evidence further where the English results crossed the national benchmark to hit 111% -117% in 2021-22 and students bagged International and national level ranks.

Execution:

• Taking smaller steps to implement and master each element of the programme to integrate and diffuse in the regular curriculum is being planned.
• Bringing it as a transdisciplinary teaching ensures a regular transaction which is eventually developing as the core curriculum.
• An effective and well-mapped implementation timeline is planned for the year enabling a smoother transaction.
• Regular collaborative meetings to share best practices, seeking support and sharing innovative ideas to improvise the student learning and create individual resources came out as the strongest evidence of collaborative culture in the school.
• Innovative teaching pedagogy supporting the learning of phonics in the physical classroom as well as transforming the learning standards in the online classroom scenario during pandemic helped in bringing out a remarkable increase in the level of student learning and parent satisfaction.
• Online and offline inductions and trainings are now regularly and periodically imparted by the trained facilitators to the community on English phonics and Jolly Grammar.

Sharing the best practices:

Being one of the leading international schools in India and one of the 81 Nord Anglia schools, we share our best practices on various national and International level collaborative sessions. Sharing among a chain of Oakridge schools through internal Virtual Group Learning Programs has been helpful in stretching the boundaries to further complement and add to the existing practices and strategies. Sharing the creative actions taken by the learners and polished reading skills of theirs have been clearly showcased through the school social media handles of school.

Thoughts by:

Mansi Chakravarti

Early Years Coordinator, Oakridge Mohali