The new THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project has been enjoying huge success in South Africa since it was launched at the end of January and last Monday it was launched in the Northern Hemisphere to a capacity audience in Milton Keynes, England. 

About 350 children from age four upwards were joined by Janine Plunkett, the South African music teacher who wrote the SING-A-LONG songs, for a concert in front of parents, teachers and representatives from the world of education. 

Even before the concert started some of the children were singing along to the background music and it was obvious from the outset that both the children and the teachers working with them were having a simply wonderful time, singing and performing actions to a selection of the songs that make up the new project. Their confidence was almost unbelievable as they sailed through a programme that included full cast numbers, smaller ensembles, even some solo items, and also a variety of dances: Celtic, Jive, Sirtaki, Hoedown. And nor was the audience forgotten, as they too were eventually given an eagerly awaited opportunity to join in the singing and actions.   

It is widely accepted that music, and in particular singing, can have a wide range of benefits for children, the most important of which in the context of teaching literacy is that it can accelerate learning and improve the memory. What we saw and heard on Monday evening was living proof of this, with even the tiniest members of the cast fully conversant with the words of the songs. 

The THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project is an exciting new project that uses 44 songs that parents and others can sing with children to explain the 44 sounds (phonemes) and 120 main spelling choices (graphemes) of English in order to help them to read and spell, and it is now set to have a major impact in British schools. 

The resources have been created and designed by British educational psychologist, Alan Davies, who has pioneered the extremely successful THRASS (Teaching Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills) synthetic phonics programme that can more than double the rate of progress for learning reading and spelling, and Janine Plunkett, a South African music teacher. The songs are real fun for both adults and children, as they all have wonderful imaginative titles such as “The moon fell out of the sky”, “A great big gorilla” and “You don’t get pandas in Africa”, and really memorable tunes in different musical styles and dance rhythms. 

The children performing at the concert were from Oxley Park Primary School in Milton Keynes, which is a THRASS ‘Centre of Excellence’ where THRASS is used throughout the school, both in dedicated literacy sessions and integrated into other curriculum subjects. Although the school is only in its third year, it has already been rated as an outstanding school by OFSTED in its first inspection. 

Cathy Higgins, Head Teacher at Oxley Park, is convinced of the enormous potential of SING-A-LONG: “When I attended the Southern Hemisphere launch in January I was particularly impressed by the enthusiasm of the children taking part and the speed at which they were learning, and it has been exactly the same with the children from my own school.”  

The terrific impact that the project is already having was also apparent the following day at the first MOVE-A-LONG WITH SING-A-LONG workshop for parents and teachers in the Northern Hemisphere. “An absolutely fantastic session. This was my first introduction to THRASS and I am sold.” “Best educational workshop ever.” “This was a fabulous workshop and the songs, music, pictures and movements will be so energising for my special needs pupils who need a multi-sensory approach.” “Very enjoyable, inspirational, fantastic workshop.” “A fun-filled experience that can be used in the classroom immediately.” These were just some of the comments made by those attending. 

The launch of the Project coincided with the start of the British Government's 2008 National Year of Reading during which Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, wants all parents to make the effort to hear their children read regularly and businesses to encourage staff to volunteer to hear schoolchildren read, in order to help build a more skilled national workforce. However, the problem is that many parents and adult volunteers lack the confidence to identify the one-, two- and three-letter spelling choices in English words and say the sounds that they represent. The THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project can give them that confidence. 

An indication of the significance of the Project is that in South Africa it is being sponsored by Absa Bank, a member of the Barclays Group, that intends to introduce the THRASS programme into 1,000 schools using the SING-A-LONG Resources, and Pritt. In addition, Janine Plunkett has been invited to train Foundation Phase student teachers in five South African universities.  

Janine Plunkett will now be accompanying Alan Davies to the Caribbean, where she will lead two workshops and a demonstration lesson for the Government of Barbados, which is intending to implement THRASS in every school across the island. 

The SING-A-LONG songs are featured throughout all the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Resources, which comprise a 96-page hard back book, an interactive book, an audio CD and a colouring book. A MOVE-A-LONG WITH SING-A-LONG DVD and a sheet music book will be available later in the year. 

For information about the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project, visit www.thrass.co.uk/sing-a-long.htm

For information about the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Resources, visit www.thrass.co.uk/list2008.htm

For a short promotional animation of the THRASS SING-A-LONG theme song, visit www.thrass-downloads.com/SAL/AD/SAL_IB_AD3.htm and for sample pages from the THRASS SING-A-LONG Interactive Book software visit www.thrass-downloads.com/SAL/SAL_IB_DEMO.swf