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Firefly and Ronald McDonald House: Building Brighter Futures Together

Firefly Education has teamed up with Ronald McDonald House Charities to help build brighter futures for Australian children. As part of this partnership, we’ve gifted a range of educational programs and resources to support children’s learning and development during challenging times. These resources have been integrated into the charity’s Learning Program, which is available across Australia.

About Ronald McDonald House and their Learning Program

Ronald McDonald Houses are a home away from home for families of seriously ill children undergoing treatment at nearby hospitals. Instead of spending the night in a hospital waiting room, family members can stay in a little more comfort at a Ronald McDonald House and receive support from staff, volunteers, and other families sharing similar experiences.

The Learning Program offers morning lessons at Learning Centres for school-aged children staying in Ronald McDonald Houses. Additionally, tailored support is available, including one-on-one tutoring from experienced teachers to help kids thrive.

The program continues to support children after they’ve returned home by offering them tutoring to help them catch up. On top of that, the EDMed program is in place to give teachers the tools they need to support children transitioning back to school.

Available across every Australian state and territory, the Learning Program helps over 1,200 students weekly.

These services mean that the Ronald McDonald Learning Program not only helps kids keep up with their learning but also boosts their confidence and self-esteem, making the transition back to a regular classroom just a little easier.

The resources making a difference

Like any classroom, the Ronald McDonald Learning Centres require high-quality educational resources to support student success. Across Australia, four Firefly programs, covering Literacy and Numeracy, are now included in the program’s morning lessons:

Sound Waves Literacy: Systematic synthetic phonics, word study and reading
Maths Trek: A whole-school primary maths resource
Think Mentals: A friendly approach to mental computation
BitMaths: A digital maths resource for junior secondary

Ronald McDonald House Charities also offers Sound Waves Literacy resources to their tutors working with students in the wider community. This means that even more children have the opportunity to benefit from the program, regardless of their location.

Firefly’s impact on student learning

Juanita Sinclair, an Education Coordinator at Ronald McDonald House Charities Victoria and Tasmania, shared some of the key elements that have been making a real difference for students accessing the Learning Program. These include differentiation, repetition and structure. She explained, ‘The Firefly resources allow a differentiated approach to all ages of students with immediately accessible resources so that we can cater for all primary-aged students. For long-term families, the repetition and structure of the lessons have had an enormous impact and offer a familiar routine for the students each day.’

Just as important is the way students have responded to Firefly resources. Juanita praises Sound Waves Literacy, noting that students ‘love the chant and look forward to singing it each session’. One student in particular has made spectacular progress, starting the year with limited English and finishing with the ability to decode CVC words and read simple sentences.

(Media supplied by Ronald McDonald House Charities of student engaging with Sound Waves Literacy resources)

Not without its challenges

We spoke with Juanita about some of the challenges faced by the Ronald McDonald House Learning Program, particularly the difficulty of delivering quality education under difficult circumstances. ‘Families often arrive during a challenging time in their lives and so the children who attend our Learning Centre may be unwell, undergoing treatment, or experiencing a high level of stress due to their family’s situation. We need to accommodate these emotional factors whilst also providing academic support.’

Unpredictable student numbers pose another challenge, requiring a high level of adaptability to meet the diverse needs of students. Juanita noted, ’We often are not given any notice of students who will be attending. The number of students in the Learning Program may vary on any given day, as well as include students of different ages and levels.’

How to support

At Firefly, we’re honoured to support this important charity and encourage everyone to contribute in any way they can. For those interested, donation links and other ways to help can be found on the Ronald McDonald House Charities website.