... ‘We’re 90% there’
THOUGH REGISTERED with the ECC, the certification process requires early-childhood institutions (ECIs) to fulfil the criteria set under the ECC’s standards, which relate to health and safety (public health and fire safety reports, and police records); and educational quality, including teacher-qualification certificates.
Schools must also undergo an extensive inspection to be fully certified.
“Currently, we’re about 90 per cent there. We need to get the place (grounds) surfaced to minimise the dust nuisance and also to ensure that if the children fall, they don’t hurt themselves. We also need to put in some ageappropriate play equipment, so we’re hoping that by September, everything will be ready,” Riverton Meadows Early Childhood Education Centre principal Junior Rowe reasoned, noting that the CHASE Fund had granted them $3.2 million to action the project.
“This centre is an oasis in a desert. Residents come here for all kinds of things. We have youth programme here. We have a gym; a library; a homework centre; a youth centre, where we do SBA, GSAT and GNAT, and even grades three and four literacy preparation for students who attend the primary school outside of the community, who don’t have any Internet access,” said Rowe.
“I reside in this community. It’s my drive, it’s my passion, and I need for us to achieve this certification.”