Brak en Jan Creche and Pre-School

Photos from Brak en Jan Creche and Pre-School's post

Brak en Jan Creche and Pre-School is now on WhatsApp.

Brak en Jan Creche and Pre-School is now on WhatsApp.

Some happy children doing their exercises

Our new extended Reception Classroom, what a difference it makes

Celebrating our wonderful staff on International Women's Day

Brak en Jan Family Sports Day at Raithby Sports Field. Lots of fun with all the races including the Family ones. Such a hot day so great to be able to hose down the children on the bouncy castles. Special Thanks to all the staff and their families who organised it all.

Brak en Jan Family Day this Saturday March 5th.

The weather looks good. Come and join us.

Stellenbosch Disaster Management came to the School this week to speak about safety in the home and beyond. The children were very attentive as you can see.

"You cannot choose your mountain, but you don't have to climb alone" This video was filmed in the beautiful town of Raithby just outside of Stellenbosch. We wrote "Forward Faster" for the Forward Foundation and the amazing work that they do in South Africa! The song is about the opportunities and upliftment that happens through community and sport; a chance for kids and young adults to choose, to be part of something bigger, to move South Africa Forward, Faster We believe that physical activity has a profound impact on the development of children as well as on the personal formation of teenagers and young adults. We combine sport and physical activities with a number of other developmental programmes that span early childhood development, primary- and high school programmes, and young adult career path development. - The Forward Foundation - Read more and get involved with the Forward Foundation: https://forwardfoundation.co.za/

https://youtu.be/jjpkETyFfAk

The Brak en Jan Children had a wonderful day at the Raithby Forward Festival. They started off with a walk down Watson Way and then back to the Rugby field. They then had lots of fun placing their hand prints on the wall. We were all entertained by great music from Steyn Fourie and Bottomless Coffee.
The new video from the Forward Foundation was shown on the large screen which featured Raithby Primary Children with the new inspirational song by Bottomless Coffee. The children enjoyed dancing along to all the music.
A huge thank you to Le Roux and all his team at Forward Foundation, for all they did to make the day such a success. it was great meeting them all.
We are so excited to be working with the Foundation. It is so important for the children to have structured exercise classes twice a week, it will benefit them hugely.

Forward Foundation at Raithby.

See you there !

Latest visit from The Forward Foundation. The children so enjoy their twice weekly lessons

A great Parent - Teacher meeting this week with over 100 parents attending. Principal Mearle and ladies from The Learning Initiative spoke to the group before the parents met with the teachers in their classrooms. We look forward to seeing them again with their children at the Forward Foundation day on Saturday at the Raithby Stadium.

Lots of activity with the Forward Foundation providing exercise classes for the kids.

https://forwardfoundation.co.za/

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Gavin Staude giving a lesson to the Grade R’s on planting beans.
Emphasis was on
What do plants need to grow?
- Light / sunshine
- Rich composted soil
- Water
Why do we plant vegetables?
Why don’t we just buy them at the shops?
Growing our own vegetables helps saves us money! And we will always have food
Three control illustrations were set up by the children
- First one - sandy soil, with light & water
- Second - fertilized soil with light but no water
- Third one- fertilized soil, with water but no light

Our school children planting in the newly painted tyres for the vegetable garden.

Wonderful to be able to deliver blankets for the kids donated through Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club - Blanket Drive 🥰❤

This past Saturday, parents painted old tyres for the vegetable garden. Seeds will germinate in toilet rolls in the classroom and the children will plant them into the tyres. Two children per tyre will then grow their own vegetable plants and look after them as part of their studies. Such a great initiative.

Many thanks to all those involved. 🥰

Growing our own vegetables

Tree planting at our School 🥰🌳🌿

Market Day Fun 🥰😎❤

Happy Easter everyone 🥰❤️❤️

Dear Parents,
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2021. We as educators are very excited to use this year to prepare all children for the next class.
You must remember that the parent is the child’s first teacher, you are the most important in his/her life.
Teaching does not stop when the creche finishes for the day, it provides your child with enriching games and activities at home, especially with Covid, it is important that you help your child at home.
Parents, try not to discuss the teacher with your child, try to sort out the problem with the teacher first before discussing it with the principal.
Also rely on the teacher’s judgement on school readiness and milestones.

Mark all items and do not get angry if your toddler’s clothes get dirty or broken at home, the children must play to grow. Your child’s teacher cares for each child in her class and therefore cannot focus all her attention on one child.
No child can be best at everything, allow your children to be a child, let their skills and talents come to the fore, too much pressure can hinder the process of learning.
Remember your child will never be perfect. Give them, yourself and their teacher the space to make mistakes.
However, healthy communication and mutual respect can iron out the problem, your child will also perform better if they know the parents and teacher work together to look after his/her well being.
Thank You very much
Mearle Hendricks Principal

Chairperson's Report.

The staff and children of Brak en Jan Creche and pre-school started 2021 with great enthusiasm and determination.
We are blessed to have 93 children (filled to capacity under COVID regulations) attending school. The teachers are healthy and ready to assist the little ones to reach their full potential. The board members, bus driver, gardener and cook as well as 3 students from Boland College add to the excitement of a new beginning.
A change of classroom allocation, brought great joy to our very young ones who are now on their own with a separate play area (thanks to the very kind donation of a jungle gym to Brak en Jan).
The cheerful laughter and positivity of the children and all the goodwill and interest from supporters and the public change the COVID obstacle into an opportunity and adventure which we will explore with great anticipation (watch the vegetable garden and other initiatives).

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Mr. Gideon Wagner, Board member and Treasurer to Brak en Jan Creche and Pre-school, passed away on the 5th of January 2021. Mr. Wagner was involved with Brak en Jan right from the very start and made a most valuable contribution to its growth and success all these years. We wish his family and friends the peace of God's grace and the wonder of fond memories, like the ones we will treasure, in this time of loss.

To the Hemel op Aarde Project as well as the Learning Initiative, Masikhule and everyone else who contribute to the wellbeing of the Brak en Jan children we wish to extend a heartfelt thank you.

In the words of John Quincy Adams:
" If your actions inspire other to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader" You are true leaders.

Best wishes for the year ahead to each and everyone : children, parents, supporters, helpers, members of the community, staff members, board members and more.

When it rains look for rainbows, when it is dark look for stars and most of all "Make each day your masterpiece - John Wooden"

CHRISTA

It is with great sadness that we report the very sudden passing of our Brak en Jan Treasurer, Gideon Wagner due to the Covid-19 virus.

Gideon and his family have been prominent members of the Raithby Community and involved with Brak en Jan for very many years. He met with Bernd Holtkamp when Brak en Jan was situated at J P Bredel Farm. He learned of Bernd’s ambitions to raise funds to build a new Creche at a new location.

In 2008 Munich Technical University Students designed the new build and funds were raised through Bernd, locally and in Germany. A plot owned by the Methodist Church was identified as ideal, it required many meetings with Bernd, Gideon and the Church including a visit from The Bishop all the way from Jo’burg.

Gideon was heavily involved in the dealings with Cape Town and Stellenbosch Municipalities including the Building and Planning Department as well as with The Mayor and Councillors. Bernd commented “That Gideon was a very reliable person who wanted every job done correctly”

He was also involved in helping to organise the Minibus donation by Mercedes. Subsequently, he has been Brak en Jan’s Treasurer. He has always ensured a clean audit of our Income and Expenditure for our Sponsors and Supporters. I also remember the number of times and hours spent when he had to go to the Traffic Department for Road Worthy and Licensing issues with the Mercedes Bus .

He was a very keen loyal supporter of Liverpool and the All Blacks. Many friendly discussions took place when they played the Springboks and Blitzboks Sevens team.
He has been an integral part of the Brak en Jan success story which has made such “ A Huge Difference’ to so many children.

We will miss him greatly.

Message from Christa - Chairperson

I hope to find you well and want to share some of the blessings Brakenjan Creche has experienced.

Since my last note the lock-down regulations has been eased to level 3 and the Gr. R’s could re-turn to school on July the 6th 2020.

With the Brakenjan Creche garden a true inspiration after the good winter rains, preparations were done according to prescriptions from the Department of Education and DSD.
The whole school has been sanitized under the guidance of Blue Mountain Hygiene. A heartfelt thank you to Mrs Kirsty Doig (Parent Somerset College) who initiated the contact with Blue Mountain Hygiene and Mrs. Sandi Theron and other parents from Somerset College, who graciously offered to sponsor the sanitizing products and equipment as well as the teacher training (including daily disinfection schedule and so much more) given by Ms. Lauren Scott—Rodger of Blue Mountain Hygiene. Classrooms which used to beam with activities, equipment and posters were stripped to the bare essentials and tables for the children were spaced 1,5m apart as prescribed. The classrooms look so empty!

Individual plastic boxes for each child with their crayons, play dough, beans for counting and other necessary things were assembled by the teachers, all marked with their names and placed on their marked tables. Their eating utensils followed the same process.

Notices were put up to promote the wearing of a mask, hand washing and social distancing as well as other relevant COVID19 information.

The screening station on the stoep close to the entrance were prepared with the necessary documents handy as well as the infrared thermometer and hand sanitizer.

Next stop the bus. Sanitized from corner to corner, documentation ready for screening before the children enter the bus as well as the infrared thermometer, some kiddies masks donated to Brakenjan and the hand sanitizer on board to sanitize everyone before entering the bus, the bus was ready to roll.

Eight of the Gr. R’s returned to school and were exemplary in wearing masks and their hand washing and social distancing. Special attention from the teachers made this a time with great value for the children. Unfortunately by July 24, 2020 the decision was made by the government that they could no longer come to school. We will miss them and look
forward to their return on the 24th of August.

The next week DSD announced, to our delight, that the younger children could return to school!

Brakenjan Creche and the bus, being sanitized everyday, individual boxes ready to get a name on it and a table waiting to be used, everything was ready to welcome them back. Twenty two children from one to five years old returned to school. The younger children also impressed us with their willingness to adapt. Wednesdays turned into a special treat day for them with the kind donation of masks, sandwiches and fruit by the neighbours of a Helderberg Sunrise Rotary member. School days are now only until 13h00 similar to what the Gr.R’s experienced.

Mearle, our hard working principal, did a course presented by Masikhule while all this was happening.

Kelly, one of the teachers, is working hard on her studies to get her qualification to be an acknowledged Gr. R teacher.

Our children at home were not forgotten and because of the generosity of sponsors, supporters and friends of Brakenjan, more food parcels were delivered. The Whats App
contact and home- work sharing were maintained through- out. A heartfelt thank you to our teachers and other staff members, you are super stars.

Our children receiving parcels of food from funds donated by a German couple, Juergen and Andrea. Thank you to Mearle and Arno (our driver) who filled the bags for the children to take back to their families.

In our April 2020 Newsletter we reported that Brak en Jan was doing tremendously well. We had 107 children attending, the most we have ever had, we had five classrooms and eight staff as well as two trainees from Boland College. At the time our main issue had been getting our electricity supply upgraded (We still await the new meter box but all the cabling is ready).
We had just had a very successful Family Sports Day in Raithby at the end of February, Somerset College Children had been to read to our children and delivered books for them, The Learning Experience were ready to work with our 4-5 year olds and the Reading Eggs Computer program was about to start with our R Class as well as the Kagiso Readers. Number Sense books and The Hemel op Aarde workbooks were in full use, (Many were delivered to the children during lockdown– so that they could work on them at home) The Class Daily Programmes all organised and were in full swing with two teachers in our R and RR Classes and with great teacher support in the other classes.

We were flying on all cylinders……….. Life could not be better. ……...then COVID-19 Struck.

Little did we know that the three week lockdown for the children would extend into August. That for many of our children, education became secondary to the plague of Covid-19. Many of the families had no income and as a result were running out of food. One of the issues that Brak en Jan has is that the vast majority are transported to the school by our bus rather than walking. So it wasn't possible for the children to walk to the school to receive their food. However, we did send food parcels to those families in need, others were supported by local feeding programmes. We emptied and refilled our stockroom to fill the parcels and were able to add face masks, books (kindly donated by Sandi Theron and Kirstie Doig, Somerset College Mums) as well as warm hats.

A Big Thank you to Mearle and the staff for organising.

In July Grade R children were able to return to school under strict protocols, however only a fraction of the class attended, we believe that financial constraints as well as a fear of the virus had a big impact.

Christa, our Chairman outlines how we prepared for the arrival of our children as well as the wonderful support and sponsorship we received. We all know how difficult life is in South Africa but the way that people come together with such passion, spirit, dedication and enthusiasm is INSPIRING.
In August our Creche children were able to come back and it is great that over 30% attended, however Grade R was shut down until later in the month.

The outlook for ALL ECD’s going forward is uncertain and Brak en Jan is no exception. Will ECD’s get all children back by September, will the parents be able to pay the fees, will ECD’s be able to continue to afford all the teacher salaries as well as expenses going forward.

We have wonderful Friends, Supporters and Sponsors at Brak en Jan as do many other ECD’s and Creche’s. Brak en Jan’s board will move heaven and earth to maintain the standards that we had reached in March 2020.

As Nelson Mandela said “ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ... The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation”, the first four years of a Child’s Life is the most important. Our children have suffered hugely from the lack of education and support as well as the connection with other children and the LOVE that they receive from the Brak en Jan Family.

A note from the chairman.

Dear sponsors, friends, parents, teachers and board members.
Day 52 of the national lockdown.
We weathered the storm of level 5 lockdown. A new way of life dawned on us: wearing face masks, washing and sanitising hands frequently and leaving homes for essentials shopping and doctor’s visits only. God’s grace and inspiring messages on Watts app and zoom/skype assisted us in this very strange reality.
How delightful the day was when Mr Ramaphosa announced that we move to level 4 lockdown! Early morning exercise opportunities, more freedom of movement as well as certain sectors of the economy opening up, made it feel like an early Christmas. Waiting in long queues (social distancing purposes) could not dampen the excitement.
Amidst the excitement there was a lot of uncertainty, worry and despair as many people were without an income and resources were running low. We were blessed by much appreciated, generous donations from our sponsors and friends. With the help of the teachers, food parcels, masks, books and more could be delivered to 52 families in need in the Brak en Jan community.
Educational and general support is given to the children and their families, by the teachers, via Watts app. Regular communication with the different DSD (Department of social Development) and Department of Education platforms keep the teachers motivated and up to date with the latest information from government.
As we are looking forward to have the children back at school (no indication of when yet) the measures to be put into place to adhere to requirements for social distancing, personal and environmental sanitisation and the safety of our staff, comes to mind. Research and advice from different sources, like Masikhule, aid in this decision making and preparation to be undertaken.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers, contributions and donations, helping hands and information shared.
In the words of Albert Schweitzer: “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” Let us be the sparks that keep the lights in each other’s life’s on.
May you be blessed with good health, strength, hope and peace in these challenging times.
Christa de Freitas

The passionate and dedicated staff

COVID-19 FEEDING OUR CHILDREN IN THE COMMUNITY

South Africa declared a national lock-down on March 26th, this followed the closures of the schools on March 16th. As a result many of the parents of the children stopped receiving any income.

In April our Principal Mearle received desperate requests for food from parents of 52 of our children.

As a result we decided to make up food parcels from our Food Store. Within 24 hrs all those parents on the Wine Farms and in Macassar received their food.

A Virus Newsletter was sent out requesting donations to refill the food store so that we are ready for the next delivery to the parents. The newsletter is available to download on our website under News.

It is highly unlikely that Brak en Jan will resume before July 1st. We have amazing staff and children and we will ensure that the staff salaries continue to be paid and that we will continue to support the families of the children where required.

On May 6th we delivered further food parcels to our children and families. Sandi and Kirsty, parents of Somerset College learners donated, face masks, books, soap, bread and spreads to go into the parcels.

A huge thank you to all our sponsors for their donations, love and support in these very diificult times.

Website: http://www.brakenjan.org.za/index.php