Early Childhood Development

90% of a child’s brain develops before the age of five. Our Early Childhood Development Initiative serves as the critical first step in shaping a child’s lifelong learning journey .

OUR APPROACH

Reaching all children, even in the most remote communities.

Best-practise activities for structured learning in a high-quality, developmentally appropriate, play-based environment.

Working with each child’s household and neighbourhood to create a supportive home learning environment.

“The Thanda ECD programme is superb!
Each week, the activities for each day are planned around a carefully selected children’s story. Many of the books deal with emotions and relationships and it is a joy to watch well prepared, responsive practitioners modelling empathy, self-regulation and a love of reading in a playful, active learning space. Vital skills, including numeracy and literacy, are cleverly woven into the day, while the children develop an appreciation for nature and a healthy lifestyle during the daily discovery walk in spectacular settings. This is the kind early learning all of our children deserve!”

Dr. Mary James

Reaching all children , even in the most remote communities through a mixed-model approach .

Baby Programme

Through promotion of playful relationships between guardians and babies, the Baby Programme focuses on achieving developmental milestones in social emotional, physical health, and language and thinking skills.

Imbewu Centre-Based ECD

Based at Thanda’s Community Centre, Imbewu ECD is our flagship programme for 110 children from 93 households across 20 neighbourhoods. It also serves as a resource hub for Thanda’s remote Early Learning programmes.

Satelite ECD Centres

Satellite ECD Centres aim to offer the same high-quality ECD curriculum further away from the Thanda Community Centre. Currently, there are four Satellite ECD Centres, serving 108 children.

Fun Foundations Household-Based ECDs

Fun Foundations offers early learning opportunities for children living in remote communities who would otherwise not have access to Early Learning. Currently serving 88 children.

Nationally, only 45% of children in ECD Programmes are on track to start Primary School.

A three-year external evaluation of Thanda’s Centre- Based ECD Programme showed that 97% of children are on track to start Primary School.

We begin with babies

The first 1,000 days of life are absolutely critical for the optimal development of a child and can change the trajectory of a child’s life. Our Baby Programme regularly visits guardians at home to offer practical support on building loving and playful connections between themselves and their babies (ages 0-2 years). Following an initial developmental milestone assessment, guardians are empowered with skills and tools to stimulate learning and growth in specific areas of need for their particular baby.

The Baby Programme has reached over 150 babies since its inception in 2021

To further strengthen resilience, Baby Programme guardians participate in monthly Thanda-led playgroups where they discuss child development side-by-side with their neighbours.

Quarterly neighbourhood-wide learning circles on topics such as nutrition, the role of play, and early literacy extend these concepts to everyone living in the area, strengthening community bonds as everyone grows in knowledge and confidence together.

Guardians involved who believe children start learning from birth –

52%

Baseline

95%

Final

ECD Whole-child curriculum

Thanda’s ECD curriculum for children ages 2-5 was developed in-house in collaboration with Early Childhood Education specialists. Aligned with the National Curriculum Framework, it is based around storybook themes which offer children deep engagement with each character and the social-emotional concepts they encounter. Behind the storybooks, larger developmental themes guide discussions and learning, including social-emotional skills that promote interconnectedness from a young age and global indigenous knowledge approaches for growth, development, and ultimately balance.

We give children time and support to investigate their world, ask questions about what they are seeing, think about why things are happening, and walk side by side with them as they refine their thinking and understanding of the world .

Reflections from experts in the field

“Overall, the Thanda curriculum succeeds in being practical and grounded, but also addresses some of the most critically important philosophical questions of our time. It is aligned with the latest research on quality language teaching, but most importantly, it provides both practitioners and children with a platform for developing critical thinking, empathy, and confidence in their views and opinions. The stories and activities will plant the seeds of imagination and creativity, and help children to learn the value of respect for each other and the natural world.”

Dr. Shelley O’Carroll

Early Literacy Specialist, Founder of Wordworks

“In addition to being framed in developmentally appropriate practice and incorporating an incredible teacher training model, Thanda’s story-themed and play-based curriculum make the Thanda ECD classrooms places filled with joyful learning. I believe that the Thanda ECD can and should serve as a model to other ECD programmes not only in South Africa, but around the world.”

Dr. Elizabeth Dowling

Deputy Director Institute Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University

The magic of books

Storybook themes provide a springboard to jump into experiential learning that enables children to explore related concepts, big and small.

Storybook-related discussions delve into deep social-emotional concepts like diversity and tolerance. Storybook-inspired discovery walks and experiments encourage exploration, enquiry, curiosity and discovery – the cornerstones for growing into a lifelong learner!

Reinforced through quality teaching methodologies, books enable early literacy skills such as phonological awareness, letter recognition, and rhyming.

They immerse children in make-believe worlds, helping them extend their imaginations and encouraging empathy through journeying with the storybook characters.

Nokuthula Msimango

Early Learning Manager, joined 2015

“The curriculum is so interactive and fun, everyone gets really excited about the storybook themes! The children love connecting with the characters and exploring discussion topics and activities like discovery walks and art projects linked to the storybook theme.”

ECD Methodology

Thanda’s ECD Programmes implement developmentally appropriate teaching practices in a child-centered and play-based environment that encourages and allows children to learn alongside and from their teachers. Teachers at Thanda believe in a child’s right to learn through play.

Teacher training model

Our teacher training model is unique. We hire our facilitators from within our community to ensure that they understand the contextual challenges of the local children.

Our model ensures a high quality of instruction across classes with daily training as well as team teaching which allows teachers to learn from each other and mentor the newer/more inexperienced teachers.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we have developed a minute-by-minute curriculum to guide the flow of every aspect of the day and help ensure that every teacher, new and old, feels comfortable and confident in taking their class through every aspect of our curriculum.

The minute-by-minute instructions not only outline what to do but also include the theory and learning outcomes of each and every activity, helping the teachers to build their understanding and capacity while carrying out their roles at the same time.

Children in our ECD programmes achieve age-appropriate goals in the following areas, as outlined in the South African National Curriculum Framework:

Social-Emotional
Development

Cognitive
Development

Language
& Literacy

Numeracy

Creativity

Physical
Development

Knowledge
& Skills

Belonging

What is the impact?

Enabling a home learning environment

According the The South Africa Reading Barometer Report (2023), only 30% of households in South Africa own one or more children’s books and 63% of households do not have a single fiction or nonfiction book. Introducing a love of reading early on is important because children who master early reading skills experience an “upward spiral of causality”. This means that, when children find reading easy, they read more, and when they spend more time reading, their skills improve further.

Children in our Early Learning Programmes receive books to keep at home forever, enabling the household to become a home learning environment too. To date, Thanda has distributed 22 351 Bookdash Books to households.

We teach guardians how to read with their children and we make new books available weekly through our mobile library.

Since 2012, children have borrowed 69 589 books!

Sustainable fuel for learning

Good nutrition is essential for optimal development in childhood. That is why we make sure that our children are fed – not only while they are at Thanda, but at home too!

Our Feeding Scheme provides a breakfast of fortified porridge to all of our Early Childhood Development participants and a warm hearty lunch of rice, vegetables and protein to all children across our programmes (with the added benefit of having the vegetables organically grown by farmers in our Nisela Farming Programme)

Guardians of the children in our programmes have the option to join our Nisela Organic Farming programme to earn an income through farming, or to establish a Household Garden with Thanda’s ongoing support and mentoring. Supporting households with skills and inputs to grow their own organic food means increased household resilience AND well-nourished children.

Most of our ECDs and Fun Foundations groups have their own veggie gardens where the children learn to grow their own food, equipping them with skills to ensure increased resilience as they grow (and instilling a respect for the work that goes into putting the food on their plate at the same time)!

Involving guardians in their child’s learning & development

We know that in order to have the biggest impact, everyone needs to be on the same page. That’s why we really get to know our beneficiaries’ guardians.

Our Home Visiting Programme sees every guardian at every household once a quarter for a book reading and discussion regarding their journey of understanding childhood development and their creating a safe home learning environment. Our team also offers a friendly shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen if guardians have burdens that they would like to chat about. There is a strong relationship of trust between Thanda and each child’s guardian, and we believe that this is a key element to seeing our children making remarkable progress.

We also meet with the same guardians at neighbourhood-wide learning circles quarterly where we gather for a different kind of learning experience on topics like early literacy, nutrition, learning through play, and disability inclusion. Through passionate discussions, hands-on arts and crafts activities, and sharing of knowledge, many guardians have said that from these meetings they have been astonished to find out that others among them are dealing identical issues, strengthening bonds of friendship and support.

Including children of all abilities

Our Inclusion programme began to assist children with disabilities in reaching their full potential. This programme has opened up awareness about those living with disabilities throughout our community and in turn, it has helped reduce stigmas for families of children living with disabilities.

In 2023 all of our ECD Inclusion children were able to transition to a schooling option.

Provides children who have learning and developmental challenges with the opportunity to learn in the same environment as their peers, helping them feel a sense of belonging amongst their peers and community. At the same time, it encourages their classmates to accept, encourage, and include their friends who have challenges, just as they would any other child.

In- classroom support as well as occupational and/or physical therapy, and specialised learning plans for each child.

Ongoing support to household guardians so they feel equipped to implement specialised plans and facilitate their child’s development journey.

Building resilience in each participating household through acceptance and navigating complex processes such as accompaniment on visits to clinics and providing referrals to government resources.

Increased neighbourhood support through information shared at Neighbourhood Learning Circles, as our team works to reduce discrimination and create awareness for specialised needs.

We have a dedicated Inclusion Programme Coordinator and all of our ECD teachers participate in ongoing training to successfully manage a classroom with children of varying abilities, as well as identify children who might be struggling and need further interventions.