New app gives children in Kingston a hand with early literacy

TruePhonics was developed by BGC South East to help bridge the reading gap for young learners.

There is a new program that aims to help young people read more and be better at it.

BGC South East have introduced TruePhonics that they say will help bridge the reading gap for young learners of their programs.

Director of Education and Innovation Scott Compeau says the platform took them years to develop.

He says it provides parents and educators with the resources that they can go to that will help get children to read.

A formal launch was held at the BGC South East office on Bath Rd last Thursday. Those in attendance for the launch was Kingston Deputy Mayor Wendy Stephen and Kingston and the Islands MPP Ted Hsu.

Compeau says they wanted to develop a platform that is geared to children living in the Kingston area. 

Campeau says there hasn't been a lot of apps that provides phonics at a grassroots level.

He says another reason they developed this app is to remove barriers that parents and some educators face when accessing these learning tools.

TruePhonics is available through the Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre at BGC South East.

Staff will be trained to become TruePhonics facilitators that will bring literacy into their after-school and education-focused summer camp programming to strengthen foundational reading skills across Club sites in Kingston, Loyalist, Napanee, and Leeds & Grenville.

Story by Ken Hashizume