There are still a few places available at the Flower Valley Early Learning Centre (ELC) on Flower Valley Farm, just outside Gansbaai. The Centre, which provides an education for children between two and six, has an exciting 2015 planned: including outings, picnics, sports days - and of course the very best environmental education.

Currently the school has 15 children who attend from the Overstrand district. The Centre is a member of the Wildlife and Environment Society of SA (WESSA’s) Eco-Schools Programme, which ensures a strong focus on learning about nature, as part of its early childhood development programme. According to the Centre’s Principal, Jimmona Schuurman, this year the Centre will take the children to new and exci-ting places weekly, to teach them about the value of the environment, and in particular, our fynbos.

The Centre has a strong recycling programme, and this will continue in 2015 - teaching the children about using the earth’s resources with care, and not wasting materials. The children will also spend time in the impressive vegetable garden on Flower Valley Farm. The vegetables are used in the daily meals provided to the children. The Centre also makes use of an outside oven - and teachers and children intend to bake delicious fresh bread and rusks in the oven. The children already enjoyed the first set of buttermilk rusks from the oven in 2015. 

From the second term, the Flower Valley Early Learning Centre is planning to reintroduce its after-care activities, allowing children to stay on at the school in the afternoon. Currently a bus takes the children to Flower Valley Farm, collecting the children at various points on the route to the farm, and returns the children in the early afternoon. 

For more information on the Early Lear-ning Centre, contact Jimmona:

jimmona@flowervalley.co.za, or contact her at 028-388-0713.

Heather Dalton

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