Welcome to Kyalami Estates Pre-Primary
What factors should be considered when deciding if Pre-Primary Education is right for your child?
There are many child care centers available, and not all of them are effective in delivering quality child care and education.
When choosing a child care centre one should consider the following:
- Quality staff.
- What training and experience do they have?
- What level of individual care is given to each child? - Suitable environment.
- Child focused environment.
- Indoor facilities with educational equipment.
- Outdoor facilities which promote gross motor skills & development. - Appropriate grouping.
- Are the classes divided into age groups. - Consistent schedules.
- Is there a daily programme suitable for each age group. - Parent involvement.
The long term benefits of sending a child to Pre-Primary have been well researched and documented. These benefits include: improved speech and cognitive development, better social skills, overall higher grade averages, a better likelihood of attending tertiary education, an increased potential for earning higher than average salaries in the workplace.
Unfortunately not all child care centers are providing high quality programmes which focus on a child centered curriculum, staff which are well trained in their field, leadership and curriculum support, small classes, and parent involvement in the programme.
When evaluating a high quality child care centre, one should consider if the child is exposed to learning in the following ways:
- Does the learning environment provide for active, engaged and meaningful learning?
- Is the programme developmentally appropriate for the age and stage of development of the child?
- Is there a consistent routine and daily schedule?
- Are the children encouraged to participate in groups?
When evaluating the teachers in the child care centre, one should consider the following:
- Are the teachers well skilled in this area, and do they have a thorough knowledge of the programme?
- Do they interact individually with the children and provide for the individual needs and development of each child?
- Is there a monitoring system in place?
- Are the children grouped in such a way that they are provided with the opportunity to develop to the best of their ability?
- Do the teachers encourage parent involvement in the child’s education?