Grow ECD Success Story | Lucia Shumbayaonda | Springs Tots Childhood Centre | Gauteng
My name is Lucia Shumbayaonda, and I run Springs Tots Childhood Centre, located at 8th Street, Springs 1559. I currently have 52 children enrolled and work with a dedicated team of 6 teachers.
Springs Tots Childhood Centre was opened July 2017 and has been running without proper curriculum and management systems until we joined Grow in 2022.
I opened the centre because:
- I saw the need around the community that I was living in.
- I have passion for teaching and helping children in my community
- There was not a centre around the areas that was teaching the holistic development of children due to lack of knowledge and resources so I saw it befitting to take advantage of my qualifications and resources.
- I wanted to create employment for people in the area as a source of living.
I joined Grow ECD because I wanted to run my business professionally and I realised that Grow ECD provides the curriculum, classroom resources and support for the ECD. That’s what I really wanted.
Grow gives us the training, mentoring, and curriculum for free. We just need to invest in our classroom kit, which will help us implement the curriculum. Grow helps you understand how to afford this. I decided to go for a low-cost loan because it’s affordable and Grow is here to help all the struggling daycares to grow and provide quality education for the children in all areas. Grow is striving for equality in all angles of education in the ECD sector. It provides all the teaching resources and materials that are aligned to the curriculum as well as the Grow ECD App (The Grow Giraffe App) where everything is recorded and kept paperless. Grow also provides staff development mentorship and training that helps teachers through their work.
Before I joined Grow, I was like running my centre haphazardly.
A few of my challenges were:
- No curriculum to follow
- No trace of financial records or how to do it
- No proper systems that could guide me on the keeping of records e.g registers and compliance documents
- Lack of teaching resources and materials in my classrooms
Now, Springs Tots Childhood Centre operates like a well-oiled machine:
For the school: I am now running my centre like a professional, a dream come true for me. I have systems in place that guide me through the implementation of lessons, record keeping and I can keep track of my finances.
For the teachers: Grow provides teachers with resources and materials that makes it possible to teach children. There’s staff development trainings that help educators to refresh their experience. The curriculum from Grow is well planned and explained which makes it easy for teachers to implement their lessons.
For the children: For children the Grow curriculum makes learning fun, enjoyable and understandable. Children learn through play and manipulating of objects.
My business is up and running with everything on track. Everything is traceable. All the resources and documents that are needed for a successful business are available on Grow. Grow also offers in-person training that develops the skills for educators and principals.
Joining the Grow ECD Small Business Programme was a wise decision. Grow gave hope to the growth of my centre as it also helps me with marketing, resources, materials and the curriculum. I joined Grow and it really did help me to run my centre like a pro.
Your support today can shape the next generation of learners and leaders. Donate now.
Grow ECD is an early learning social enterprise. We equip ECD businesses and organisations with the skills, support and resources they need to provide 5-star early learning for every child.