Cause Index

Stella Pre-Primary School and Care Centre

Mission
To provide education, nutrition and basic healthcare to children of all backgrounds, including those in circumstances of severe financial deprivation.

For the past twenty-five years Stella Pre-Primary School and Care Centre has been providing quality pre-primary education and primary health care to children from the eThekweni South Central area. The Stella community believes that a good foundational education is essential for a child’s success in life and that every child deserves to be loved, cared for and nurtured regardless of her/his circumstances. Part of this nurture involves providing an affordable service through which the parents of our Stella Stars can rest assured knowing that their child is receiving an excellent Pre-School education, nutritious meals and ample love and care each day. These are necessities that, due to circumstances of extreme poverty and inequality, many of our Stella Stars would otherwise be deprived of.

How we started:

In 1993 Stella Presbyterian Church started our school in their Church hall as part of their outreach program. Realising the pivotal point of change that South Africa was going through, the founders wanted to do something that would build towards a brighter future for South Africa.

Donations and a great deal of fundraising enabled the school to be furnished and supplied with educational toys and equipment. The school was opened on 3 February 1993 with a total of 12 children.

Our school has grown and changed considerably over the years – we can’t wait to tell you more about it!

What we provide:

We are a day school, currently serving 90+ children ages 3 to 6, who find themselves in oppressed circumstances as a result of poverty caused by unemployment, HIV/Aids, urban migration (informal settlements) or any combination of these social challenges.

Children affected in various ways by HIV/AIDS have always been part of our school community. Those orphaned by the disease have grandparents or older siblings taking care of them and pre-primary education is not financially viable for many of these families.

We reach children :

- from nearby informal settlements (e.g Cato Manor, Bonella, Fast track, Mayville)
- from nearby Council flats
- of Domestic workers in our area
- of unemployed parents
- whose parents or breadwinners are in prison/critically ill
- of refugees
- from nearby orphanages
- generally in need

Our children are kept busy and intent on learning through play and a varied, structured ECD programme which culminates in a school readiness curriculum. Both mental and physical development are addressed.

The children are given breakfast, cooked lunch and a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack daily.

The menu is varied and carefully planned – the food both nutritious and delicious! Fresh fruit and vegetables are obtained daily from the market. Children go home each day with full tummies, active minds and over-flowing hearts.

Stella offers Primary Health Care: minor wounds and abrasions are treated by competent staff who have all completed certified courses in First Aid through Naptosa. Major injuries are referred to a local practitioner. Most of the latter occur at home where conditions are often neither safe nor child–friendly.

Children are transported to and from school daily using our two school vehicles.

Our staff are motivated, qualified or in-training, and self-sacrificing. They work tirelessly from 6.15 a.m. each morning and work well into the early evening, while caring for and transporting children home from our After Care facility.

We strongly believe that we can contribute to a brighter future for South Africa by pouring ourselves into the lives of the children that come across our threshold.We believe that we can contribute to correcting historical social injustices in South Africa by giving children who are the victims of this injustice and inequality an excellent foundation for their future.

We subsidise approximately 80% of our children on an ongoing basis through fundraising and the very kind donations of caring people in our community.

Stella Pre-Primary School and Care Centre is registered with the department of Social Development & Welfare and is a registered non-profit and public benefit organization with Section 18(a) status in terms of tax exemption.

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