Early Childhood Education Month reached a memorable high point in Anguilla on Monday, March 25, when hundreds of young children marched en-masse in a fine display of colour, pride and order, as part of a series of activities.
Children, from twelve privately-run pre-schools, joined by other boys and girls from the kindergarten sections of the Government-owned primary schools, participated in the parade led by the Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder Drum Band. A welcome sight was the participation of parents and guardians in the almost unending throng of children and teachers.
The parade route was from the court yard at the Scouts and Guides Ruthwill Auditorium, up St. Mary’s Street, around the Mahogany Tree Corner, down Albert Lake’s Drive and back to the starting point.
“A teachers’ night out on Tuesday, is in fact the last event for the celebration of Early Childhood Education Month,” President of the Organisation for Early Childhood Education, Pastor Julet Simon, told The Anguillian following the children’s parade. “Monday’s march was really to showcase the talent of the teachers and the parents who usually make the costumes instead of ordering them. Some persons ordered costumes and we were not too pleased about that, and we will address that next year.
“We use the costumes to depict different matters about which we teach periodically. We depict things like flowers, classroom scenes, numbers, the alphabet, our island, ships and other topics that we cover during the school year.
“We were delighted with the turnout of parents in support of the schools and the teachers. We normally have 400 and more children in the parade. All the twelve pre-schools were represented as well as a number of primary schools with kindergarten sections.
“We want to have the children in the pre-schools well-rounded so we make sure that we cater to the spiritual, social and physical aspects of life. We try to get the children involved so that they can come out of their shell. Some of them are very shy when they come to pre-school, but by the first term or first year they get out of their shell and they learn to socialise and learn how to interact with other children. So our aim is to expose them to different areas of life so that they can learn and develop.”
Pastor Simon, who teaches at the Prophecy Pre-School in The Quarter, said that she was proud of the work of the Organisation for Early Childhood Education. She added that she was pleased with the cooperation of everybody which made the children’s parade a successful and memorable event.
