TransCape NPO, South Africa

Mdumbi Pre-School opened in January 2008. Due to the success of Mdumbi Pre-School and the community need for more pre-schools, Mdumbi Pre-School grew into the Mankosi Pre-School Project in January 2009. As of January 2010, this project supports three new pre-schools in the Mankosi area (Nonkqubela Pre-School, Manangeni Pre-School and Nceba Pre-School).

The three teachers at Mdumbi Pre-School support the teaching and learning in the new pre-schools: 

• Teachers from the other pre-schools come to observe Mdumbi teachers teaching
• Nolutho (one of Mdumbi’s teachers) goes to one of the other schools for on-site support every Wednesday
• Mdumbi teachers hold professional development sessions for all teachers every week here at Mdumbi (Tuesdays at Two).

All four pre-schools in the Mankosi Pre-School Project follow a daily learning schedule from 8:00-12:30 that includes:

• Fine motor, spatial noticing, puzzles and language development
• Songs, rhymes, circle greetings
• Phonological awareness (rhymes, rhythms, pre-reading)
• Life skills
• Reading and language arts (letter study, story study, name study)
• Outdoor play (gross motor development and games)
• Mathematics
• Writing workshop
• Arts, crafts, fantasy play, block building and other play

All children receive a portion of e’Pap in the mornings and a lunch at the end of the day. Children also brush their teeth, wash their hands and learn to use a toilet. The pre-school teachers are beyond amazing and the lovely children at the Mankosi Pre-Schools are eager and extremely intelligent.

Canzibe Pre-school The Preschool in Canzibe Mission was started and funded by reverend Willie Stadler and his wife Marlene Stadler in 2001. This mission is next to the Canzibe Hospital.One of the female sleeping halls in the mission was converted into the Preschool. There are two trained pre-school teachers, and a helper. They have a daily programme of teaching and playing, both inside and outside on the playground with swings and a seesaw. Since February 2007 TransCape decided to help with some funding. Several bookshelves were bought and installed, and also many boxes were bought to store the Preschool materials like toys, books, pencils etc. TransCape now pays the monthly running costs of the Preschool which include the food, the remaining part of the salaries for the teachers and the full salary for the helper.