We are so excited for our Pan-African Early Childhood Development
Conference, and can't believe it is less than 50 days until the ECD
sector (non-profit organisations, government officials, ECD
practitioners, donors, academics and other stakeholders) unite to share
information on ECD programmes, fundraising and working with children
with disabilities.
If you are as excited as we are, please go to
our Conferences page to read more about this fantastic event. We have
uploaded
our brochure, registration form as well as a draft programme, for your
interest.
May Early Years
Thursday, 03 June 2010
We have uploaded the May edition of our Early Years publication. Visit our resources page for a copy of this document- alternatively click here.
Early Years Out Now!
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
We have uploaded the April edition of our Early Years publication. Visit our resources page for a copy of this document- alternatively click here.
Marike visits CECD
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Photographer, Marike Wink spent an afternoon with our Project Manager,
Toufeeq Thomas out in the field. Marike managed to capture some
beautiful images and we have included some here for you to enjoy.
Marike
is 24 and comes from Cape Town. She is currently completely her degree
in photography at CPUT. Marike is also a firm believer in the importance
of early childhood development and has a passion for photographing
children.
Marike can be contacted via e-mail on
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Little Village Pilot Workshop
Thursday, 01 April 2010
On Wednesday 10 March, 60 Grade R teachers from 22 primary schools and
preschools attended the Little Village Pilot Workshop at Lentegeur
Hospital Auditorium.
The teachers and ECD practitioners, representing 2100 Grade R learners
in Mitchell’s Plain and Khayelitsha, were introduced to the concept of
the Little Village Early Learning Programme and asked to partake in our
pilot programme.
Teachers were given a Little Village Activity Booklet for each of their
Grade R learners. The Activity Booklets have been printed in English,
Afrikaans and isiXhosa, the three predominant languages used in
Mitchell’s Plain and Khayelitsha. The purpose of the workshop was to
introduce teachers to Little Village, its characters and the fresh and
exciting approach to literacy, numeracy and life skills that the
programme is designed to implement.
The workshop was a great success! All the participants enjoyed the
interactive approach and couldn’t wait to take the booklets back to
their learners.
Over the next three weeks, the Grade R teachers will be incorporating
the comics and activities from the Activity Booklet into their daily
lesson plans. Themes covered in this edition of the Little Village
Activity Booklet are cleaning, saving up, hygiene, shapes, dental
health, road safety, nutritional health and sounds. Once teachers have
completed the stories and activities with their class they will fill in
an evaluation form assessing their opinions of the Little Village
Activity Book. The Centre for Early Childhood Development will then
collate this data and write a research report to motivate for donor
support for the programme.
If you would like to receive more information on the Little Village
Pilot Programme or the Little Village Early Learning Programme, please
contact Julie Mentor (Programme Co-ordinator) on 021 683 2420 or
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The dates of our Pan-African ECD Conference 2010 have been changed from
4-6 October 2010 to 27-29 September 2010, so that we are able to
accommodate ECD practitioners and Grade-R teachers. The theme for this
years conference is “Africa’s Children, Africa’s Future” and the Call
for Papers can be downloaded here. If you require any additional
information please contact Najwah Mukadam on 27 21 683 2420 or
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We will also be posting regular updates on our Facebook page and more
Conference documents will be available for download here on our website. So diarise 27-29 September 2010 and watch this space
for more information!
Comments on 2010 Budget Speech
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Child Support Grant increase gives poor children one extra slice of bread per day
While Minister Pravin Gordhan has presented a budget that is probably
“right for the time” it is however a very disappointing budget for poor
children and their families. Most shocking is the minuscule increase in
the Child Support Grant by R 10 per month to R 250 per child per month.
This is an increase of 4.1% and will give each child one extra slice of
bread per day. Phasing in the child support grant up to a child’s 18th
birthday does not compensate for this insignificant increase. It is
clear that to do this the Minister deliberately kept the increase so
low. Interestingly he did not say when this would happen.
The Minister started off by saying that he wanted “every family to have
shelter and food”. This budget does not provide this. He said that it
is critical “to address social and economic weaknesses” but he has not,
and he said that he wants all South Africans “to share in the
opportunities that our country offers” – but all South Africans do not.
To his credit he acknowledged that poverty is widespread but then presented a budget that does not tackle this.
On education and training we heard little that was new. Much of the
extra R 2.7 billion to be spent on workbooks for Grades 3, 6 and 9 will
be wasted because of the lack of quality early childhood development
opportunities for young children. Grades 3 and 6 is too little too
late, the damage is already done. Grade R and early childhood
development are not mentioned at all in the budget yet international
research informs us that the greatest economic return on education
investment is at this level.
His goal of better co-ordination and alignment between national policy
imperatives and provincial budgets is welcomed in the light of the wide
chasm that presently exists, especially in the education sector.
So what does this budget tell us. Ministers will continue to earn in
excess of R 1.5 million each year and will also continue to have two
vehicles valued in the millions and receive heavily subsidised housing.
On the other side of the line, young children will continue to go
without quality education, without quality health care and without
quality housing and their parents will still be without work, the very
things that Minister Pravin Gordhan wants them to have.
For more information or to comment on the National Budget Speech please visit our Facebook page.
CECD receives BEE rating
Thursday, 21 January 2010
In October 2009 we received
our B-BBEE Level 1 scorecard recognition as rated by BEE Empowered rating
agency. This is the highest Level that can be achieved and will allow for any
donor investing in the Centre for Early Childhood Development to score 135% on
their own BEE rating for the total amount invested.
Find us on Facebook
Friday, 08 May 2009
The Centre for Early Childhood Development has officially joined the social network, Facebook. This will allow us to keep in touch with all of our friends and partners in a more regular manner. Please have a look at our page. To do so, log onto Facebook (www.facebook.com) and search for The Centre for Early Childhood Development in the search bar. Alternatively sign in to your Facebook page and then click on the facebook badge below. If you would like to receive regular updates from us, please become a ‘fan' of our organisation.
Our facebook profile will be updated regularly, and will include photographs, information regarding our events and conferences, helpful tips for ECD practitioners, information on the ECD sector and much, much more!
Please feel free to write a message on our wall, and please invite your friends, family and colleagues to join our group.
If you need more information on how to find us on Facebook please give Julie or Tamalin a call on (2721) 683 2420 or e-mail us at
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