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Matjana is left with three weeks before the end of the school year. This year has been great. We’ve enjoyed lots of good times and learnt a lot from the things which didn’t go so well. This month we will share the ups and downs for the year 2023 and our plans for 2024.
Teachers said the most amazing thing that has happened to them in 2023 is that they got a salary increase. This was recommended by the Friends of Matjana Committee and the school committee approved it. Teacher Nokuphila said, “I was so happy that I got a salary raise as the price of everything has gone up.” Our teachers had not got a salary raise since 2022 January. We are proud of all our teachers. Its’ amazing how hard they have worked in the past years despite all being fairly new to their jobs.We have had financial problems in the past years where teachers’ salaries would be delayed by 3-4 months but it hasn’t happened this year. Precious who was a school chairperson in the past years (before being a teacher) said “Teachers would not get their pays for 4 months because the school didn’t have money.” We are so thankful to all the people who have donated money in Matjana Preschool for the year 2023 and ensured we could pay the teachers and increase their salary.
It was also exciting to get a visit from Jim, who plays a big role in raising funds for Matjana Preschool, and his brother Rob. We really enjoyed having people at the school who have played a big role in developing Matjana Preschool to what it is today. Khetsiwe said, “The kids were equally excited to see Jim and Rob and the goodies they came with and had a great lunch that day.” Those of you who have been reading the Meet the Kids section will know that many of the kids say that bread and juice is their favourite food — and that is what Jim and Rob bought them. The school committee was also present on that day to welcome them and they were equally grateful to have them around. One member of the school committee said that they hope that Jim and Rob will come back to visit again and to see other new developments. They will always be ready to welcome them.
We are also pleased to have finally manged to successfully organise an excursion for preschool. We have also improved the fence which is another thing we celebrate having done in 2023.
Since all our teachers are fairly new, we are also happy that we have had experienced teachers who have shared their expertise with us. This includes Matjana long friend Tessa, who is always willing to take questions and send educational stuff to our teachers. One of our former teachers Swane had organised two workshops to empower our teachers about classroom management stuff. In a short interview she said, “I am always willing to help Matjana, it is only the time that is limiting me.” We are very grateful to Swane and Tessa for sharing their knowledge with our teachers.
We would be lying if we say we have all good things, but we have learnt something from the bad things.For our kids to go to primary school they need to have a birth certificate. At preschool we only need a birth card, which all of the children have. We found out recently that some of our kids do not have a birth certificate which means they are likely not to go to primary school in 2024. We have learnt this year that we should make sure that we remind parents and help them to sort out the birth certificates at the beginning of the year.
Repairing outdoor equipment and buying new furniture for the second classroom is something we had planned for this year but unfortunately we could not do it due to the fact that we were not sure if we will have enough money to do it, as well as difficulty finding people who could do the work in our area. However, this is on our top list for 2024 then we can do other things for preschool maintenance. Since we now have two classroom and three teachers, we are planning to separate kids according to their ages . We are also excited to say that we are now registering new students for 2024.