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All projects are closely monitored and mentored by our highly competent employees. Trustees review project progress monthly and provide guidance, input and support where necessary to ensure successful execution and conclusion of projects. Projects vary in duration and complexity, but are all aligned with achieving our vision and annual goals.
The Knysna Education Trust (KET) is honoured to partner with the Jim Joel Foundation in the work being done in the Early Childhood Development sector in the Knysna and surrounding communities.
The Jim Joel fund, through an agreement with Biblionef SA, 20 KET affiliated sites received a wonderful donation of book boxes, each containing 30 storybooks and 5 educational toys.
KET’s primary focus is to ensure young children thrive through quality Early Childhood Development programmes, competent teachers and caregivers, in safe, healthy and enriched learning environments. For many of the ECD sites supported under the KET umbrella, access to daily classroom learning resources such as stationary and reading books are simply unaffordable.
All studies point to the importance of early literacy and the enormous benefits children glean from reading, and yet as a daily resource in the disadvantaged community based ECD sites, good quality readers, reading books, and educational games are often completely out of reach of their budgets.
The teachers can be commended for the dedication which they put into creating usable classroom resources from donations and recycling. Despite the challenges, they persevere, because they share KETS belief, that every child should attend a safe registered preschool, with qualified competent teachers, where literacy, numeracy and life-skill lessons happen daily.
While KET provides the training, on-site mentoring and support that teachers and parents need to ensure their children reach crucial developmental outcomes, a gift of this nature, just enables a teacher to be the best she can be and maximise learning experience for the young children in her classroom.
The team at the Knysna Education Trust, along with all the selected sites, would like to extend our heartfelt thank you to The Jim Joel Foundation for funding these truly wonderful boxes.
It has and will continue to make a significant difference in the learning of the young children which attend these facilities.
The early childhood years are the most important time for overall development, according to the World Health Organisation. Brain growth and development is no exception. A preschooler’s nutrition contributes directly to his/her brain growth. A preschooler’s brain development affects their cognitive, social and emotional growth. Research has proven that preschoolers need protein, calcium and iron in their diet. Fat is essential in helping the body develop and function properly. One of the most important things for a preschooler’s brain growth is a diet that includes a variety of nutritious foods. The Trust, through donors currently sustains feeding schemes over and above the daily e’pap meal that the children receive. Approximately 700 children at the most vulnerable preschools benefit daily from an additional balanced cooked lunch. The feeding schemes ensure that the children in the poorest of poor areas receive additional nutrition essential to normal physical and intellectual development.
In order to increase the effective management, monitoring and measurement of our programs and services in affiliated preschools the Trust is looking to leverage information technology to achieve these goals.
The following research by K. Krige of the Gordon Institute of Business Science supports KET’s efforts to establish effective and efficient computer information systems.
The Trust's teacher training programme provides certified Further Education and Training (FET) in Early Childhood Development. The Trust has partnered with an established and recognised specialist ECD private FET training entity in Johannesburg to deliver good quality Early Childhood Development Training in Knysna. This makes teacher training more accessible and more affordable to all teachers and preschools in the area.
Funding is required to assist with student teacher bursaries. School leavers and in service teachers would benefit from this support. Please contact fundraiser@knysnaedutrust.co.za for more information.