Early Childhood Development Initiative

Ba Futuru Preschool Quarterly Report

A YEAR OF BRIGHT BEGINNINGS: CONCERT, GRADUATION AND LEARNING ADVENTURES

End of Year Concert and Graduation Ceremony. Last year, 15 children graduated from Ba Futuru’s pre-school. It was a joyful yet bittersweet celebration, commemorating students’ achievement over the past year. In light of this special event, and as a gesture of farewell to our beloved students we conducted an end of year concert. The event was a success, and parents were eager to attend and witness their children’s achievement through various arts performances.

Teaching and Learning. In this school periodwe were pleased to have 40 students enrolled at Ba Futuru’s Pre-school, along with the support of 8 new volunteers. To kick-off the new school year, we introduced students to the themes of: Settling In Exploring in Identity, & Culture, and Family Life.Learning About our Community Helpers, our Attributes and our Rules and Routines Term Trip. Through these learning opportunities, children became more familiar with the Timorese culture, as we employed traditional costumes and arts throughout the lessons. Furthermore, in February 2025 we had our first term excursion to Arte Moris, a local Artists’ workshop and Gallery, located at Bairu-Pite, Dili. Students truly enjoyed their time learning about arts, as they explored various art works and participated in an art workshop.

In addition, in this period, Ba-Futuru’s pre-school also successfully carried out the following activities:

• Parent Conference. Teachers openly discussed with each family representative about the learning progress of their child since the last parent coreference 6 months ago. Within the conference we were able to touch on topics such as each student’s successes and their individual learning goals. All caregivers (100%) attended the conference and demonstrated eagerness and enthusiasm to learn about their child’s development.
• Pot Luck Lunch.Teachers and parents gathered for a shared potluck lunch. After sharing a delicious meal together children put on a small show. We find that this is a great opportunity for informal conversations and to build a stronger relation with the families of our students.
• New 15-minute games Introduced.These fun and engaging games allowed for group play, and significantly developed children’s listening skills, concentration and confidence.
• Facebook Marketing. Throughout this period our Pre-school team remained active on our social media platform, namely Facebook. There, we promoted and provided updates on our daily activities. We received numerous positive feedback from parents and community members online.
• Literacy Learning.  We introduced jolly phonics group one to our students through fun literacy games, rainbow writing and one and one activities. We also introduce CVC words to our children. This program has helped children develop their learning skills.
• Maths Learning. We have introduced innovative and fun math games to our students, and they learned a new number every week.  Moreover, we introduced simple addition and subtractions to the older children aged 5-6 years old.
• Science learning. We introduced students to fun science experiments such as magic milk, mixing fruit test, volcano, travelling water, food coloring mixing, and the magic of baking soda & vinegar.
• Gardening. We introduced students to different types of plants found in our garden. We also harvested corn, cooked it, and shared a meal together. We also planted Papaya.
• Movement Program.  We introduced students to fun outdoor activities. The games we conducted helped children develop their abilities to self-balance, hand and eye coordination, teamwork, and helped them set a goal-oriented mindset. Additionally, skateboarding activities has made a comeback, with Maun Ron introducing basic skateboard skills to children. Children demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm and are excited to learn how to ride the skateboard.

Our team also conducted ‘Parenting and Community Workshop’. We facilitated an info-session about Healthy Living and the Importance of Play Based–Learning. Parents were equipped with valuable information on how to ensure everyone in the family is healthy. Moreover, caregivers also gained a deeper understanding on the importance of play in child development. Parents showed immense curiosity during the workshop, resulting in an interactive exchange about the role of parents in supporting their child’s development on a household level. The workshop was attended by 65% of parents.

Term 3 & 4 - We were Learning about “The Planets & Exploring Family life”

During the third and fourth term children gained many experiences linked to our general topic of Planets. Children had the opportunity to learn some physical movement activities through dancing  of the planets song with our volunteer Rabea Juerging.

• On September 20^th our children had the opportunity to present the song and dance on the stage during Ba Futuru’s 20^th anniversary celebration.
• Children also had the opportunity to create their project, which are related to our General topic of planets.
• To conclude term three and four, we worked with the parents and organized a long trip excursion from Ba Futuru to Kaitehu Liquiça to visit the “Lenuk tasi” (sea turtle). During the visit, the children had the opportunity to learn some interesting facts about the sea turtle, such as their life cycle, and the effort of conservation itself. At the end Children had the opportunity to release the sea turtle hatchling back into the ocean. We regularly organize site visiting to explore various places, to gain experiences and knowledge to inspire young learners.

Literacy:

During the 3^rd & 4^th term, the students continue learning jolly phonics letter group 4-7. Children learned about the songs, sounds and action of the letters. The children learned to recognized the letters, practicing reading, blending sound sensorial play and playing phonics game. We also have supported children with art and craft.

Montessori and play based learning math program

During the third & Fourth term, we continued exploring different ways of learning math. Generally we introduced our numbers from 20-30, few children are already up to 50 as our children are all at different levels. We also introduced the 3D shapes, classification, subtractions, and addition. We also focused on the one and one correspondence, sequencing, unit and measurement.

PMP (Physical movement program)

Teachers have being setting up the obstacle course activities for children to explore everyday. Teachers support our children through games, in our big whole also outdoor area, such as throwing ball, jumping, catching ball, soccer and other fun activities. Through these games children developed the skills of fine motor, eye coordination, and Gross motor movement.

We also had the opportunity to dance with mana Rabea (Professional dance Teacher). Through this activity children developed their abilities of confidence, self-balancing, body control and other skills.

To conclude we also had the opportunity to introduce our children to skateboarding activities.

Teacher’s professional training

During the term 3 & 4, we had a lot mini workshops to reinforce our teacher practice. (Play-based learning vs rote learning, professional teacher vs Learner teacher, how to work with diverse learners, writing & story writing, 15 minutes math games, literacy games, revisit the Ba Futuru attributes 7 Values. We have introduced fire, and earthquakes drills. Teachers had opportunity to gain experiences and knowledge how to lead children in 21^st century (Play-based Learning). We have introduced a simple ways to writing and documenting children assessment. 

 Parenting Workshop

This term we delivered a healthy living and the importance of Play based–learning curriculum information to 18 parents (Women: 11 & Man: 7). Through this workshop parents gain new skills, experiences, and understand the importance of play for children’s development.