Estelle’s first Day at the Gan-Gani Kindy

As Estelle was not accepted to start school in November. We found a Kindy for her to start 3 short days a week. The Kindy is comparable with the 1ste and 2de ‘Kleuterklas’ in Belgium. There are about 24 kids, 2 teachers, an aid teacher and an administrative worker. At the Kindy uniforms are not required, hats are. There is a lot of information and picture exchange on what the kids did that day via the ‘Storypark app’ including a full report of the child’s behaviour that will be send to the future school. Although Estelle only spoke a few words of English at the start, she started conversations with the other children already after a few days. A few things are quite different from Belgium, kids are obliged to rest 45 min after lunch, if they don’t want to sleep, they can lie and ‘read ‘books. At the entrance, shoes are collected and kids don’t wear shoes during the full day (in and outside). 90% Of the time is outside play. The kindy has 3 chickens and a vegetable garden, every Friday they make bread… Although Estelle will only join for a few weeks till summer holidays, we were very happy she was accepted and got the chance to play with other kids of her age while learning English before starting school in January 2022.