Early Childhood Development Initiative

Currently, Ba Futuru’s preschool has 42 children. There are 9 children who are full-time students and s6 children are from Ba Futuru’s neighbourhoods in Seroja communities. In this term, we have 5 children who are new so we welcomed our new families and children and settled back into our preschool routines. Our new children have been exploring our fun and educational environment with curiosity and are beginning to develop a sense of well-being and belonging in their new surroundings. Our children have been exploring outside learning with many different play areas.

 Reinforcements of positive behaviours in the classroom. We delivered a comprehensive programme on how children can practice their positive behaviours with their teachers and peers. Children learnt about emotions through being able to label emotions and self-regulate in appropriate ways. We revisited our good friend programme, which reminds children how to play like a good friend. Ba Futuru Preschool Attributes. We have 10 attributes that nurture skills, knowledge, positive attitudes, dispositions and behaviours.

This term, our teaching and learning programme has been focusing on 3 attributes are; Guardian of the earth, Creativity, and Teamwork. I believe our children have a good understanding of these attributes as children are able to nominate their peers who they see doing things in these three areas. We have been practising once every week taking care of our garden and picking up the rubbish around our Ba Futuru environment.

Transition to School Programme (5-year-olds)

 Our teaching and learning programme follows the Jolly Phonics Programme. We have been using this programme for over 5 years consistently and it delivers good solid results, as all our children learn to read and write before starting primary school. This consists of children learning the alphabet letter sounds and actions, through singing and moving. This term our children have been learning by practising our jolly phonics Group 3-4 there are 18 alphabet sounds such as Group 3: g, o,u, l, f, b. Group 4: ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or. Moreover, we have been practising forming the letters correctly on the air, black and white board, then on paper and creating the craft relatedly to each letter. On other hand, Children also practice their reading skills through learning of sounding out each letters sounds and also early reading books for 5 minutes each day, one on one with a teacher.

 Montessori and Play-Based Learning Maths Programme

 We continue to explore different ways of learning maths. Our children are all at different levels of maths learning, therefore we cater lesson plans to the individual’s skill level. Currently, we are focusing on one-to-one correspondence, measurements, shapes, colours, addition, substruction and classification. Children enjoy learning our fun math games inside the classroom and outside the classroom.

 Place-Based Education (P.B.E) Exploring our Community.

Place-based learning engages children in our community, including our physical environment, local culture, history, or people. With place-based learning, children get to see the results of their work in their community.

 What’s happening in our larger Dili community? These experiences enrich our children, through gaining knowledge about the place where they live. We use these experiences as a foundation for learning more about language, art, maths, science, and other subjects across the curriculum.

This term our excursion took us to the fire station which is very closed to our preschool.  We are invited every year and it has become an annual excursion.

 Our children get the opportunity every year to experience it. The children were very excited to try on the firefighters' helmets and boots. The firefighters explained why it's important to have the correct uniform and fire gear to keep them safe from being burned. They gave us a tour of their fire truck, pointing out the different things, water hose, water tank and ladders. Then we had the opportunity to hold the big firefighters’ hose and to spray the water, like a real firefighter! Having a career as a Firefighter and helping the community is one of our children’s aspirations when they grow up! Needless to say, they were extremely happy to participate in this trip.

 Teachers’ Professional Training

 We had a half-day refresher session on our child protection programme, it’s about Keeping safe. We focused on what we want to nurture in our children through teaching skills, knowledge, positive attitudes, dispositions and behaviour on how to respond to harm and look for assistance.

 The teachers have had a refresher course with Mrs, Nadia and Mr Helio from Ba Futuru staff about the psychosocial Mental Health Support for Children who have Experience Traumatic events. Our teacher learning a lot of strategies and methods how to respond to those children.

Ba Futuru Preschool Quarterly Report 2022 

In January Ba Futuru preschool enrolled 43 children; 39 children are active, and 4 children have moved elsewhere.   

9 children are full time students. 

6 are from theSeroja Community. 

24 are fee-paying children. 

Boys: 20 and Girls: 23.  

We have two classes operating; Sprouts class is for children aged 2-4 and our Explorer class (transition to school)is for children aged 5-6.  

We currently employee, 6 teachers and 1 cleaner/cook. 

Term 1-Settling, Discovering Self and Identity  

We welcomed our new and existing familiesand children and settled back into our preschool routines. Our new children have been exploring our fun and educational environment with curiosity and are beginning to develop a sense of well-being and belonging in their new surroundings. Our children have been exploring self and identity throughsharing family photos, stories and self-portraits and family representations through art. We all learn and share together and build up stronger identities and relationships with each other. 

Self-Regulation. We delivered a comprehensiveprogramme on self-regulation. Children learnt about emotions through being able to label emotions and self-regulate in appropriate ways. We revisited our good friend programme, which reminds children how to play like a good friend. 

Ba Futuru Preschool Attributes.We have 10 attributes that nurture skills, knowledge, positive attitudes, dispositions and behaviours.  

This term,our teaching and learning programme has focused on 3 attributes.  Friendliness,Team Work, and Resilience. I believe our children have a good understanding about these attributes as children are able to nominate their peers who they see doing things in these three areas. 

Transition to School Programme (5 year olds)  

Our teaching and learning programmefollows the Jolly Phonics Programme.We have been using this programme for over 5 years consistently and it deliversgood solid results, as all our children learn to read and write before starting primary school. Thisconsists of children learning the alphabet letter sounds and actions, through singing and moving.This term our children have been learning to practice the first 12 alphabets soundss, a, t, i, p, n, c, k, e, h, r and m.We also practice to form the letters correctly in the air and then on paper and make a craft dedicated to each letter. 

Children also practice their reading skills through learning to sound out an early reader book for 5 minutes each day, one on one with a teacher.  

Montessori and Play Based LearningMathsProgramme 

We continue to explore different ways of learning maths. Our children are all at different levels of maths learning, therefore we cater lesson plans to the individual’s skill level.Currently we are focusing on one-to-one correspondence, sequencing, unit measurements, shape, addition, patterns, and classification.  

Place Based Education (P.B.E) Exploring ourCommunity.  

What’s happening in our larger Dili community? These experiences enrich our children, through gaining knowledge about the place that they live. We use these experiences as a foundation for learning more about language, art, maths, science, and other subjects across the curriculum.  

Thisterm our excursion took us to the Nun’s Bakery our neighbours.  We are invited every year and it has become an annual excursion. Our children get the opportunity every year to experience a commercial kitchen and its operation.  The nuns choose a different food experience each year for our children to participate in making.  This year it was making a cupcake and decorating it and of course sampling it, YUM, YUM.  Because of COVID, we have limited our excursions to only one a term.   

Teachers’ Professional Training 

We had afull day refresher session on our curriculum framework.  We focused on what we want to nurture in our children through teaching skills, knowledge, positive attitudes, dispositions and behaviour through these 10 areas.Leadership, Friendliness, Team Work, Resilience, Health, Explorer, Guardian of the Earth, Creativity, Empowerment, and Building Relationships.  

We discussed what’s going well in our new documentation and writing a narrative report in the form of a learning story, and what teachers are finding hard about this documentation.  The teachers that are more skilled with writing and using the computer are mentoring the teachers that are still learning these new skills.   

The teachers have had a Montessori Maths refresher course with Mrs,Lolita from Sri Lanka who is Lecture in Montessori.We appreciate her refresher maths courses that she has delivered over the past five years.  

• Ba Futuru Preschool Quarterly Report 2022 - 1 (PDF)
  

This term we enrolled 31 children, 5 of those were full time, 10 were from the community and 21 were fee-paying children.

Boys: 10 Girls: 21

Settling and Identity Learning:  We welcomed our new families and children and settled back into our preschool routines after comeback from lockdown.

We continue teaching our activities about self-regulation, Ba Futuru Attributes, gardening, Maths programme, physical movement, and Literacy programme for 5 year olds.

E Learning Programme started 19th August to 20th September 2021 due to lockdown.

Teaching and learning through WhatsApp and Zoom classes

Teachers learn to make fun, interactive videos, for our children who are learning from home. Teachers have learnt quickly the new skills needed to produce a good quality and professional engaging teaching and learning video. We have been able to produce 3 to 4 videos every day. We have had very positive feedback from parents and children are very happy. Teachers also prepare a worksheet package of activities for our transition to school programme children weekly.  Content of Learning: Our calendar time/mat time, maths and science, arts and craft, games and songs, stories - audio, teacher read and puppet story), physical movement games.

 Teachers’ Professional Training

 All teachers completed their Ba Futuru teachers’ assessment/professional development checklist and met with the coordinator to discuss the indicators and next steps. There was a lot of discussion around the curriculum framework, particularly our new attributes that we are fostering. Documentation and writing a narrative report in the form of a learning story, was highlighted for most teachers as needing support with their writing skills and using a computer.  

Preschool Event 

On 15th to 19 November 2021 teachers – parents’ conference

On 26th November 2021, Preschool will celebrate the end of year concert, graduation. 

We appreciate your support and we could not do this amazing project without your generosity. Please share this report with others and encourage them to provide financial assistance if they can.

Thank you!

We enrolled 30 children, 4 of those were full-time, 10 were from the community and 18 were fee-paying children.

Boys: 12 Girls: 18

Term 1 and Term 2

Settling and Identity Learning:  We welcomed our new families and children and settled back into our preschool routines. We learnt about identity, through our new “Me Sheets “and had discussions and activities.  This strengthened teacher’s and children’s knowledge about our “Ba Futuru family community”. Parents were invited and got involved through sharing with us their cultural foods.

Self-Regulation.  We delivered a comprehensive programme on self-regulation. Children learnt about emotions through being able to label emotions and self-regulate in appropriate ways.  We revisited our good friend programme, which reminds children how to play like a good friend. 

B.F Attributes. We introduced our 10 Ba Futuru attributes that nurture skills, knowledge, positive attitudes, dispositions and behaviours. These areas are Leadership, Friendliness, Guardians of the Earth, Creativity, Explorers, Team Players, Empowerment, Health, Resilience and Building Relationships. 

Montessori Maths Programme. We continue to explore different ways of learning maths.  Our children are all at different levels of maths learning, therefore we cater lesson plans to the individual’s skill level.  Currently, we are focusing on one-to-one correspondence, sequencing, unit measurements, shape, colours, addition, data, patterns, classification and subtraction. 

Transition to School Programme-5 year olds. This consisted of revisiting the alphabet letter sounds and actions delivered last year through a Jolly Phonics Programme. Children also are practicing their reading skills through learning to sound out an early reader book for 5 minutes each day. We also send early reader books home twice a week for children to practice this new skill with their parents.

E Learning Programme starts 09 April 2021 due to lockdown.

Teaching and Learning Videos through WhatsApp

Teachers learn to make fun, interactive videos, for our children who are learning from home. Teachers have learnt quickly the new skills needed to produce a good quality and professional engaging teaching and learning video. We have been able to produce five to six videos every day. We have had very positive feedback from parents and children are very happy. Teachers also prepare a worksheet package of activities for our transition to school programme children weekly.  Content of Learning: Our calendar time/mat time, maths and science, arts and craft, games and songs, stories - audio, teacher read and puppet story), physical movement games.

WhatsApp Video Call

Video call with all our children and parents, four times a week, to connect and give support.

Teachers’ Professional Training

All teachers completed their Ba Futuru teachers’ assessment/professional development checklist and met with the coordinator to discuss the indicators and next steps.  There was a lot of discussion around the curriculum framework, particularly our new attributes that we are fostering. Documentation and writing a narrative report in the form of a learning story, was highlighted for most teachers as needing support with their writing skills and using a computer. Because of the lockdown teachers have had to learn on the spot how to use new technology through producing video classes and learning the skills of editing and how to engage in front of the camera. 

Ba Futuru's Teaching Coordinator, Betty Fatima, who has been working with Ba Futuru's Early Childhood Development Initiative has returned to Timor-Leste and will be once again leading this initiative.

Betty received a scholarship to go to New Zealand for 9 months to study early childhood education, now that she is back she will be sharing these immense learnings with the staff at Ba Futuru's preschool. While in New Zealand Betty worked in various Kindergarten and primary school transition classes. In 2021 Betty will be working to apply the innovative strategies that she learnt about phonics and the new attributes/values curriculum. 

Ba Futuru is currently reaching out to the Dili community for enrollment for the upcoming term. We greatly appreciate all your support that makes this initiative possible.