ECC/National Baking Company join hands for ‘Little Leaders’
THE EARLY Childhood Commission (ECC) has strengthened its partnership with the National Baking Company Foundation through the Little Leaders initiative.
The initiative’s overall objective is to improve the literacy rate of children between the ages of three and six years old.
The ECC’s partnership will enhance the school-readiness skills of children in this age cohort in a holistic way through physical, social, emotional and cognitive development.
REGULATES
Distribution of the kits began on September 21 to early childhood institutions islandwide, with one of the goals being to help these institutions meet Standards Two and Five of the commission’s ‘Standards for the Operation, Management and Administration of Early Childhood Institutions’ through which the ECC regulates early childhood institutions.
Standard Two addresses developmental and educational programmes for children, while Representatives of the National Baking Company Foundation and the Early Childhood Commission pause for a photo opportunity during the packing of Little Leaders Kits last Wednesday.
Standard Five covers equipment that promote optimal development of children.
The Little Leaders Learning Kits contain crayons, paper, blocks, balls, scissors, puppets, puzzles, paint, brushes, play dough, glue sticks and other manipulatives. They are designed to promote fun and interactive learning among children in the three-to-six-year-old age cohort.
“The interactive items included in the learning kits are very useful in assisting our children at the early childhood level to enhance their learning skills in keeping with the Jamaica Early Childhood Curricula,” said Michelle Campbell, the ECC’s director of sector support services, who was among persons assisting to pack the learning kits at the recent distribution launch of the project.
“It also helps that the carefully selected items contribute to the eagerness of children to learn through play,” Campbell added.
More than 3,000 kits are being distributed to just under 2,800 early childhood institutions that have applied for certification across the island. The receiving institutions are among those that are compliant with the ECC’s registration process and are in greatest need of support. Prime Minister Andrew Holness and his wife Juliet, who started their relationship while at St Catherine High School.