Helping Rural Xhosa children become literate!

It has been a busy five months at Ncinci Ones Montessori.  We started the year with only 16 children and this was due to two new preschools opening in the area as well as the local Government school who now take children from age 4.  By April, we had increased to 19 children.  We are still trying to increase the numbers to 30.  

The garden was lovely in the summer months providing the children with corn, green peppers and granadillas (passion fruit), but when the rains came in late March, our garden took a bad knock.  

The Directresses attended a teacher's workshop on the "Orientatio of new children at school" as well as the Wild Coast ECD CoP workshop.  They also hosted a Parent workshop at school on "What is Montessori and how you can help your child at home". 

Our School Manger/Directress is now an accredited ELOM (Early Learning Outcomes Measure) Assessor. She also attended the South African National Conference in Johannesburg in April and thoroughly enjoyed the conference as she learnt many new things and met new Montessorians.  She heard the story of "The Life of Pi' for the first time and it really stuck with her.  She also enjoyed the Co-operative Drama, which was another first for her.

The children are all attending school regularly and are really engaged with their prepared environment.  The older children are teaching the younger children how to carry materials and how to do activities. It is really lovely to observe.

We could not be doing the work without your wonderful support - thank you!

The Ncinci Ones team