Jumpstart! Update: Tree-planting ceremony
June 18, 2015
We can hardly believe it: our Jumpstart! nursery programme has already been in operation for over four months now! As you may have seen here on the website, and through our social media channels, our Jumpstart! team have been working around the clock to improve nursery education in northern Uganda. From our local sensitization meetings across the Nwoya district to engage the local community in their children’s early development, to providing ECD training to 36 care-givers, and mobilising nursery teachers into teacher-changer networks to explore each other’s knowledge, it really has been an exciting few months!
One of our most enjoyable activities has been helping teachers develop play and learning materials. 
Indeed, due to lack of funding, many nurseries in Uganda are bare, lacking colour and resources – but we want to radically change the appearance of our partner nursery schools to provide the best possible learning environment for young pupils. So, we have been holding workshops where teachers can learn how to create engaging teaching materials which are free or cheap to produce, which will stimulate their pupils’ learning. How fabulous are the classes looking now?!
To commemorate the start of our Jumpstart! programme and all that has been achieved thus far, we are holding tree-planting ceremonies at all our partner nurseries – the first of which took place at Willacic Nursery School this week.
We planted seedlings of pine, avocado and orange trees as well as apple fence bushes, teak and African red mahogany trees. These trees serve both a symbolic and practical purpose. The strong, beautiful trees will provide shade, and add to the beauty of the school grounds, whilst the apple fence bushes will serve as protective fencing around the perimeters of each school. The fruit trees are purely for the nutritious enjoyment of the young pupils; aren’t orange segments the most refreshing snack after all?!
During the ceremony at Willacic, the parents of the nursery children turned out in force to show their support, in an encouraging display of commitment towards their children’s development and education. Officiated by the school’s headteacher Bosco, our CEO Colleen was also on hand to re-affirm our partnership with parents and care-givers, as we work collaboratively to give children the best possible start in life.
After these speeches, Colleen and Bosco planted the first seedling, following by the school management committee, and the ECD teachers. Last but certainly not least, six of our nursery school pupils: Eunice, Sunday, Steven, Moses, Steven and Linda planted their own seedlings in front of the encouraging crowd. As they gently placed the young plant into the ground and patted the earth around it, we were reminded that those seedlings are much like the nursery pupils we work with: young children need care and commitment to ensure their healthy and strong development.
Our hope is that these seedlings, which are now the responsibility of the school management committee, will grow into trees which will be on the school grounds for many, many years and that when our current co-hort of nursery pupils look at those trees as adults, they will be reminded of their positive nursery experience.
It has been an exciting few months, and we are delighted to have partnered with such committed ECD centres that are passionate about their students’ education, and ensuring they get the best early development possible, so that they are prepared to live life to the fullest. As we continue our work, be sure to check out our website, and social media channels for regular updates on all our Jumpstart! happenings; here’s to the next few months!
