International Literacy Day celebrated at Sunnyside Primary

Picture credit: Jurie Senekal

This article first appears on SA Good News

LITERACY CHAMPS: 

Learners of Sunnyside Primary in Athlone were treated to a fun day of literacy games and challenges on International Literacy Day (8 September) when Coronation, the literacy organisation Living Through Learning and NGO Ladles of Love visited their school.

Here Mary-Anne Musekiwa, CSI Chairperson and CFO of Coronation is handing out high fives and prizes to a group of eager learners. Coronation sponsors a special reading space in the school called the Reading Adventure Room. UNESCO celebrates the day all around the world to highlight the importance of literacy for lifelong learning and career success, and this year placed the focus on creating special spaces in schools where children can nurture a love of reading.

Picture credit: Jurie Senekal

WORD GAMES: 

Learners of Sunnyside Primary in Athlone participate in word games as part of a fun day of literacy challenges on International Literacy Day (8 September). Coronation along with literacy organisation, Living Through Learning and food security NGO, Ladles of Love visited their school and treated them to games, prizes and a hot meal. Coronation sponsors a special reading space in the school called the Reading Adventure Room. UNESCO celebrates the day all around the world to highlight the importance of literacy for lifelong learning and career success, and this year placed the focus on creating special spaces in schools where children can nurture a love of reading.

About the Event

This International Day of Literacy, 8 September,  Sunnyside Primary School in Athlone, Cape Town celebrated the day with a beautiful sculpted Tree of Words, created by literacy organisation Living Through Learning (LTL) and sponsored by Coronation.

Situated in the Coronation-sponsored Reading Adventure Room in the school, the massive tree was the central piece of a fun literacy game for the learners. Words and sounds will be hanging from the branches. The learners have to build sentences on the tree and read it out loud. Learners will also use words on the tree to build sentences on their own trees. The winning groups were given Coronation-sponsored prizes.  

About Living Through Learning 

Living through Learning’s mission is to provide training and interventions to support educators and learners in South Africa in literacy. 

They provide youth with a chance to flourish in their formative schooling years by developing and improving their literacy levels. 

LTL ignites educators’ passion to provide a sound foundation for learners through practical training, and to build learners’ confidence and ability to achieve their career dreams through a hands-on pedagogy.

Why Coronation Supports Literacy

This International Day of Literacy Coronation is reaffirming its commitment to improving foundation phase literacy in our schools: With the low levels of foundation phase literacy in South Africa, Coronation is on a mission to improve literacy levels in primary schools through its Reading Adventure Rooms programme and other ongoing interventions with various NGO partners, such Living Through Learning, because this foundation for future learning is a critical determinant of later academic and career success for children. This applies especially to being able to read for meaning, not just mechanically because it determines whether children can learn in all other subjects.

At Coronation, literacy interventions are enduring and long-term. Through a partnership with literacy organisations such as Living Through Learning, Coronation has helped improve primary school literacy for more than 16 000 children.