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90% of brain development takes place before the age of five, making these the most important years for adequate nutrition, support, and stimulation, yet less than 16% of children in the province of KwaZulu-Natal have access to early learning opportunities.

We believe that children in rural areas should have the same quality learning opportunities as their urban counterparts, that they should not go to bed hungry or suffer from stunting due to malnutrition, and that they should be surrounded by positive and supportive adult relationships.

Through inquiry-based learning and imaginative play, our Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programme gives children the foundational skills they need for a positive start in life. 

Key Programme Components

Supportive Learning Environment

Classes maintain a 9:1 student to facilitator ratio so that each child has the opportunity to learn and engage with adults every day. Each teacher has a special bond with the students in their class!

Feeding Scheme

Provides nutritious meals and snacks including morning porridge, lunch (protein, rice, and vegetables sourced from our organic farms), as well as a morning and afternoon snack of fruit.

Local Community First

Our ECD Facilitators are hired locally & obtain NQF Level 4. Volunteer guardians also assist to ensure that children have adequate support throughout the day. Our team is very passionate about working in ECD!

Story-themed Curricula

Hands-on activities and lessons are developed around exciting stories and themes, aligned with South Africa’s National Early Learning Standards. Children explore, imagine, and create while building Game-changing Skills like critical thinking, creativity, and empathy.

Active Guardian Involvement

Guardians participate in various workshops throughout the year, which focus on nutrition, reading together (via six Every Word Counts sessions using WordWorks model), and the value and importance of learning through play. They have a lot of fun coming to Thanda!

Innovative Classroom Design

Vibrant classrooms are powered by solar energy, while the double roof and large windows promote natural ventilation. Our kid-friendly bathrooms follow VIP (ventilated improved pit) design and our tippy taps ensure water is not wasted!

A deeper look…

Our curriculum is founded on principles from the Circle of Courage — a Native American methodology that helps us to balance of the ideas of Belonging, Independence, Mastery and Generosity — and involve four of our Game-changing Skills (Empathy, Creativity, Perspective and Self-Esteem). These themes are seamlessly integrated into all of our lessons and taught through the lens of children’s stories and fables. Concepts and ideas discussed during story time are reinforced through imaginative play and inquiry-based projects, where children have the space to relate stories to their personal experiences in creative ways.

Critical thinking is one of five Game-changing Skills prioritised in all of our programmes. To develop critical thinking skills in young children, we start by developing the skill of observation. From the moment children are born, they begin learning through observation — using sensory perception to make inferences about the world around them. Our Discovery Walks are one of the many ways that we foster the development of this critically important skill — encouraging children to actively seek out answers, rather than being provided them.

Learning should be fun and engaging, while fostering creativity. Establishing strong foundational numeracy skills is one of the ways that we prepare children for Grade R. Rather than relying on rote memorization, we use varying manipulatives to learn number symbols and counting. For example, we learn the number five by saying the word, learning its symbol, and by counting sticks we find in the grass, toes on a friend’s foot, or by rolling a dice and moving our bodies in five silly motions. In our ECD Programme, mathematical explorations are endless and creative – bringing smiles and laughter to little faces.

Early childhood is an explosive time for language development; during this time, we begin to understand and process the world around us while learning how to express our interpretations, thoughts and feelings. In our ECD Programme, children begin their journey as literacy lovers by engaging in a curriculum that is driven by children’s literature. Our curriculum themes are centred around children’s stories. As we begin building early literacy skills, children develop an understanding of the relationship between printed texts and the words we speak, as well as an appreciation for reading and the ability to read and write.

In Art, there is no “right way” and that is why we love it! Most of our art projects are open-ended and allow for creative exploration, although we also work to develop fine motor skills through guided activities. We encourage children to experiment without focusing on the end result — mistakes are somewhat encouraged so that children learn to persevere through them, developing grit and resilience. One of our favourite art projects is “The Splat”, where students create a giant paint splat on paper and, after letting it dry, use crayons to turn it into something else – whether it is realistic or completely imaginative is their creative choice and there is no right or wrong way. Through this activity, we remind children that mistakes should not be regarded as wrongdoings – they are simply a step on the journey learning!

Social-emotional development is arguably the most important component of a high-quality ECD Programme. Not only do we want our children to be empathetic and caring, but we want them to be resilient and emotionally balanced. Free play affords children the invaluable opportunity to experience different emotions firsthand, while learning to work through negative feelings and embrace the positive ones. Stories also provide a platform for analysing a character’s emotions and relating them back to children’s experiences, which is much less threatening than speaking directly about our own emotions.

Teaching Knowledge and Skills happens rather organically at Thanda. For instance, we begin every year by learning about Belonging; our younger group thinks about themselves in relation to their household, while our older group looks at themselves in relation to their community. While evaluating Thanda’s role within the community, we learn about Thanda’s pigs, dogs, and cats. Children walk around our colourful Community Centre and learn to greet Thanda’s dogs, Shady and Dre. Through this experience, the theme of Belonging intersects the theme of Animal Safety, where children learn to respect animals that are both familiar and unfamiliar.

From the first day at Thanda’s ECD Busiswe noticed a change in her child, Asanda: ‘She came back singing songs from the ECD for me. She was even able to speak some English. I was just so amazed by how much she had learned.’ Busisiwe reflects on Asanda’s continued progress, ‘Her self-esteem is much higher and she’s getting much smarter. She is unstoppable now.’

Asibonga is in his last year of Early Childhood Development (ECD). It is no surprise with a small community like ours that he has three siblings in Thanda’s After-school programmes, too. His teacher, Dudu, describes him as very smart and active so much so that, “he explores and can answer any question.” His favourite thing to do is play with toy cars and his favourite book is Three Billy Goats Gruff by Carole Bloch. His uncle is his hero because he takes Asibonga with when he buys cement and does a job so he feels big and strong!

Melokuhle is in her second year of our Early Childhood Development Programme. The activity she loves the most is reading, and her favourite book is Cindy Moo by Lori Mortensen. She told us that her favourite meal is rice and bean soup. She loves coming to Thanda because the teachers are fun and she enjoys playing with her friend Azokuhle who she says is her hero.

Sanelisiwe is a Grade R student, and a graduate of our Early Childhood Development Programme. Her favourite activity is reading Spider-Man and discussing the story with her classmates because Spider-Man helps others. She told us that Thanda has made coming to school fun because they play games, and if she could share something about her community with other people it is that “we sing and dance a lot!” She looks up to her mom because she supports her and her teachers comment that Sanelisiwe is very brave, especially on a skateboard!

Sekhona started out at Thanda’s Fun Foundations playgroup. She was very quiet and when asked a question she would not answer, rather she would quietly suck on her thumb. She then moved on to the Imbewu ECD and, over time, her facilitators noticed a profound change in her. She now speaks up in class without hesitation. Her concern for others has also increased noticeably as she constantly asks others what they are doing and checks that they are okay.

“There is a difference health wise and academically in my child since she started at Thanda ECD. She is now very healthy, and she has improved a lot in her academics. There are more things that she knows now in life. She has learned a lot like months of the year, days of the week, colours and poems.”

– Parent of a child in ECD

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