Ket's stars shimmer

KNYSNA NEWS - On Friday 2 December, principals of early childhood development (ECD) centres, teachers and partners were invited to celebrate the work that has been done within the ECD sector this year.

The Excellence Awards were hosted by the Knysna Education Trust (Ket), an NPO that services ECD facilities in Knysna, Plett, Sedgefield and the surrounding communities.

Ket's reason for organising the event was to showcase the ECD facilities that provide excellent education opportunities, as well as teachers and principals who, often despite difficult circumstances, shine their loving light on the littlest and most important members of society - our children.

The 'Ket Stamp of Approval' was awarded to ECD facilities that have, through tracking children's progress and effective use of learning programmes in a safe and well-equipped learning environment, proven to increase the quality of learning in the ECD sector through functional governance.

The ECD facilities that received this award are Happy Faces Educare, Plett Pre-Primary School, The Learning Tree Preschool, The Reef Playschool, Siyakhula Crèche, Judah Square Educare, Isiseko Educare Centre and Pinelands Crèche.

SmartStart franchisees that started facilities through the programme, with Ket's SmartStart coach Andile Maduna and Rotarians George Coon, Leslie Satchel, Marrowayne Spies and Clive Reed.

Other ECD facilities were awarded for various reasons, including excellent implementation of learning programmes; administration and financial skills; great compliance with the Children's Act of South Africa and achieving green status in their SmartStart Programme Quality Assurance.

Recognising excellence in teachers and principals shows that as a community, we appreciate their effort in doing the important work of preparing children for Grade R and instilling a love for learning from a young age.

From left are Carolynne Bosman of Milkwood Day Care Centre, and Jordine Windwaai and Micayla Botha of Knysna Education Trust.