ILLUME – Nurturing uniqueness of each child

Illume uses learning strategies that respect each student's culture & socio-economic background. Do not be surprised when your child comes home & says “Bonjour” or “Vannakkam”. The global diverse culture is translated inside the classroom by celebrating various events there by encouraging children to respect cultures.
Ms. Shyama Kittur & Ms. Alka, Early Childhood Educators say “The curriculum integrated through celebrations & festivals fosters better learning & a lasting one at that.”

ILLUME uses techniques that promote & enhance the critical creative thinking capabilities of children. Next time when you are kneading the dough do not be surprised if the child starts making models from the same dough & his / her imagination to put together animals at your feet. “Archana Jamdar as ECE expert validates the above saying the holistic approach used in Kidzee is reflected in the daily actions of the child.”

During the free play the child selects his / her own activities & interacts with other children. The variety of options created be it blocks for building a city, a kitchen for cooking up, a sandpit for exercising his / her fine muscle, develops imagination, decreases stress, develops social skills, encourages language building & the ability to make choices thereby developing their unique innate potential. Dr. Usha Murugan: Principal Surajba College of education, Juhu, an expert in the field of education with over 30 years of experience as a Teacher Educator, secretary of the Mumbai Autonomous board of Early Childhood Education says “The interspersing of concept time with free play & movement is an ideal learning method for children in their early years.”

“Adds Ms. Bimlesh Vadhwa Professor NIE Singapore that this method is being deployed in our Kidzee center, which is been approved by the Ministry of Education of Singapore as the children learn with ease & enjoy the process.”

Illume uses effective communication techniques with parents & all other stakeholders, to child’s development thereby creating a conducive environment where parents are effective partners. A typical conversation in a Kidzee preschool would be as follows. “Mr. and Mrs. Sharma : I am so glad you could come in to chat with me about Rohan today. He is a fortunate boy to have such committed parents. I know you want to encourage academic achievement, which is great; but we need to begin, by developing readiness skills. The things he is doing now are a very important preparation for formal learning that includes things such as learning to listen & to share and get along with others, to wait their turns for snack, to play cooperatively, to listen to a story being read”. Here you will find the parent is being heard & guided.

Monisha Sr. Coodinator from Teacher Foundation says “Effective teacher training enables the teacher to execute a well chalked programme which is balanced between active & passive activities. The teachers are enabled to identify the needs of each child & organize their teaching methodology for each child. All the teachers of Kidzee are thus enabled through Illuminaire.”

Kidzee Parents will see the above lines in action when their children come home & say mama I built blocks to learn One, Two, Three whereas Divya painted One Two Three & Anand moulded clay to form numbers. This reflects that ILLUME is custom designed to your child’s learning style. This is the corner stone of Illume, which lights the path for KIDZEE METHODOLOGY.

“All children have the right to learn & every child must be enabled to achieve his / her unique potential through the methods best suited for him / her.”

Illume- Discovering the Miracle called “The Child”

There is a climate of high expectations, which includes the core belief that all students can learn and the teacher has the capacity to teach all children – KIDZEE schools.

Illume is an approach that helps parents and teachers spot the potential in children, one on one. Illume facilitates them to spot the unique quality in each child and helps them unleash that infinite potential within and strive with all their might to help the child realize it. Every time they spark a new insight, a new ray of hope, however small it may be Illume helps unfold the miracle.

Illume is a competency based curriculum with the end in mind. For every learning outcome expected from the child, there is a well-defined objective in place. For example, to facilitate children’s encyclopedic knowledge on the concept of elephant – the facilitator will show the poster of an elephant, introduce a puppet of an elephant who interacts with the children, a song about the elephant for the children to sing and creative movements for the children to imitate. This will be followed by an art activity / game on the following day to reinforce the concept combined with a field trip to the zoo.
This way most of the concepts across the curriculum are delivered in what Glen Doman would quote as “the joyous, honest and factual manner” covering the different learning styles of children thereby reaching every child through his / her way.
Mission of every teacher in Kidzee is to “Reach each child everyday” in his / her unique way. Illume ensures that the teachers have the knowledge of child development as well as the skills in teaching young children through Illumnaire. (Illumnaire is an exhaustive 60 hours training program through which every teacher (2000+ at Kidzee schools across India) learns the modalities of executing Illume. This is the corner store on which the edifice of ILLUME rests.
The program has an early childhood environment that enables children to learn according to their own development and learning styles. Every child is given adequate opportunity to master the required concepts and those who struggle are given more time as needed for example, a specific concept for instance an apple is taught on a particular day. The children are then provided an opportunity to reinforce and revise the same concept through puzzles, books, games, rhymes, art and craft, stories on apple during free play the following day
The ambiance of the classroom nurtures the children’s innate need to enquire and discover in their own unique ways. It thus facilitates the children’s quest for identifying their learning style. .
The play and learn equipments are carefully chosen with specific objectives in mind and what is most important teaching a particular concept. These equipments reinforce the competence for manipulation and recapitulation of concepts by the child. Relationships, memories and connectivity are a big part of what children take away from KIDZEE schools and are a vital contributor to the child’s achievement and an integral part of Illume.
Illume fosters a positive Home- School connection through a structured, well planned, face to face sessions, be it a Parent Teacher Meet, workshops, seminars, open forums where parents discuss not only the development of the child but also the contemporary issues in child development.
Continuous, comprehensive and competency based evaluation is much more than the usual annual standardized testing. It is an ongoing review of the child’s progress accompanied by timely feedback and appropriate intervention. Illume thus ensures that no child is left behind.
KIDZEE puts its ear to the ground and listening to what stakeholders wanted in our schools provided valuable insights into what needs to exist to make it an efficient and an effective system, which is realized through e-KIDZEE. e-KIDZEE enables us to have greater accountability with respect to data regarding logistics, enrolment, fees, and other administrative activities.
Each school must place its own signature on its strategy to make it a success. And the signature of KIDZEE schools is ILLUME.