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Today, Varsity College joins
forces with Pietermaritzburg’s Greenhill Primary School to
expand the roll-out of the THRASS Absa TalkTogether Project
which aims to increase English literacy among foundation
learners and their teachers in South Africa.
The TalkTogether Project is a literacy programme pioneered
by Absa and THRASS UK. It uses the THRASS (Teaching
Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills) synthetic phonics
programme in order to address English literacy.
Varsity College, a division of the Independent Institute of
Education, is one of South Africa's largest private tertiary
institutions. It joined the TalkTogether Project in January
this year. Varsity College is one of the largest private
providers of Early Childhood Development student teachers in
South Africa. It is also a licensed tuition provider of the
University of South Africa (UNISA).
Colleen Thatcher, the National Programme Manager of the
Bachelor of Education (Bed) Degree at Varsity College, said,
“We are delighted with the new development, as it enables us
to contribute to the delivery of enhanced education
standards to teaching and learning.”
Since Varsity College has a wide footprint (with seven
campuses nationally), its partnership with the THRASS Absa
TalkTogether Literacy Project will fast-track the
implementation of the THRASS methodology; leading to
increased levels of English literacy in the country.
“Starting from January, this year, 3rd year BEd students are
being offered a two-day accredited THRASS training programme
to prepare them adequately for teaching literacy in
schools.” she added.
The THRASS synthetic phonics programme helps learners
develop sound literacy skills from an early stage and
creates a strong foundation for English skills using the 26
letters of the alphabet and 44 phonemes (sounds), as well as
graphemes to explain sounds and words.
“Absa is extremely excited about its partnership with
Varsity College and we believe that their involvement will
lead to faster implementation of this unique method of
teaching English literacy,” said Nicholas Young, Chief
Operating Officer of Absa Bank’s Unsecured Lending & New
Business Cluster.
To date, over 5,000 teachers and student teachers in South
Africa have earned the THRASS Accredited Certificate, of
which Absa has sponsored over 1000 since the TalkTogether
Project was launched in July 2007.
Launched in 2007, the THRASS Absa TalkTogether Project has
been rolled out to five other TalkTogether schools and their
partner universities:
• Roseneath Primary School and the University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg,
• Sunlands Primary School and the Cape Peninsula University
of Technology in Cape Town,
• Eendracht Primary School and the University of Pretoria,
• George Randell Primary School and the University of Fort
Hare, and
• Clairwood Boys Preparatory School and the University of
KwaZulu-Natal.
THRASS has also been implemented
in a significant number of government schools, including
farm schools in Kwena Basin, Mpumalanga, and township
schools in Orange Farm and Ennerdale, and also in private
schools in several provinces.
The THRASS accredited certificate is already a compulsory
module for foundation phase student teachers at five South
African universities: Witwatersrand, Pretoria, Cape
Peninsular University of Technology, Fort Hare and
KwaZulu-Natal.
“Absa and THRASS created this unique and globally pioneering
model to make a difference in the core skills of literacy,
the building blocks of life long learning and self
development” concluded Young.
Issued by:
Absa Corporate Affairs
THRASS UK News Media Centre
www.thrass.co.uk/nm.htm
Mike Meade, Media Director, +44 1829 741413 Mob: +44 7970
151 738
mikemeade@thrass.co.uk
Chris Griffiths, International Development, +30 266 203 1723
chrisgriffiths@thrass.co.uk
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