Little Stars Shines Bright in Swartland ECD Centres
17/09/2025
The trainers are drawn from the communities of Wesbank, Abbotsdale, and Riebeek Kasteel within the Swartland Municipality. This year, the project expanded its reach to neighboring communities and surrounding areas, including Goedgedacht, Kabaskraal, Darling, and Moorreesburg.
From the 9-12 September 2025, the Wordworks Early Literacy Specialists were in Swartland district accompanying our new trainers on their site visits to observe the Little Stars programme in action. They visited 11 Early Childhood Development centres and observed 21 practitioners who demonstrated the Little Stars activities in their classrooms.
There are just 3 months left to wrap up this 3-year implementation and we have seen enormous growth and a remarkable increase in the confidence and abilities of our trainers. Many who began the process feeling shy and hesitant to present in front of others are now able to deliver presentations with confidence. Speaking about her time in the project, this is what one of the trainers, Annique Bailey had to say: “This experience has truly assisted me in coming out of my shell. The more I engage in this work, and through the interactions with the other practitioners we are training, and observing how they implement the programme in the class, I continue to learn so much from them as well. This experience greatly contributed to building my confidence”.
The visits highlighted the importance of consistent support and real-time feedback for both trainers and practitioners. We observed that successful implementation relies not only on initial training but also on sustained engagement, reflective practice, and strong communication between trainers and practitioners.
Through our Little Stars programme, trainers are equipped to train pre-Grade R teachers and strengthen their teaching of language and early literacy through a series of carefully-scaffolded, story – based teaching cycles. For more information about the Little Stars programme visit Wordworks – Changing lives through early literacy.
