Ncinci Ones Montessori opened in April 2016, after the community at Hole in the Wall requested me to please open a preschool for their children, like I had done for the children in Coffee Bay.
We started with 15 children and within six months there were 30 children on the waiting list. In 2017 we built an extra hexagonal classroom that inter leads into the small rondawel. By 2018, we were able to accommodate 30 young Xhosa children.
The two local teachers started their Montessori studies in 2018 and completed them at the end of 2023. Once the local ladies were qualified, I was able to move away to Cape Town and I have been managing remotely for the 2024 school year. The local ladies have really stepped up to on the ground ownership and have been managing the school’s daily operations very well. They also present all the parent workshops and attend the various professional development workshops at Bulungula and Coffee Bay.
I asked the two local Xhosa speaking Practitioners what they would like to share with Kamvalethu for a blog and this was their story:
This year we were struggling in the first term because we admitted 19 new students and they were crying and they wanted to go home, but by the second term they were all enjoying being at school.
Our Gardener sis Nothemba suggested to plant mealies during Summer. In Winter she planted vegetables in our garden and now we have nice and fresh vegetables.
In the second term, one of our students was bitten by snake at her home while playing with other kids. She was admitted to hospital for a month where the doctor drained the poison and she came right.
In March we were visited by DSD staff who came to observe the school and children. We have now received our Partial Care Certificate.
We held parent workshops where we help the parents to get connected to their children and advising them about giving their children their own time with them not always pushing them away. As teachers, our skills are growing and the parents always show interest in attending workshops.
Attending teachers workshops helps to remind us about the activities in the classroom and how to engage the children in the activities.
We attended the ECD Community of Practice Workshops at Bulungula Lodge and Ikhaya Labantwana Montessori. They helped us gain more knowledge and different advice for dealing with children and developing different skills that will help our children at school too.
Our children are doing very well in the class, and the record keeping is helping us see each child and where they are doing well and where there is room to grow.
