A unique little school in Winston Park will shortly celebrate its 25th birthday. Peta Lee visits Little Red Hen to finds out what makes it so different.
This is one of those perfect stories: one with a happy-ever-after ending.
Almost a quarter of a century ago, two sisters with big dreams, loads of vision and just a handful of pupils started a pre-school in a granny flat.
Today, Fay Scholtz and Merle O’Shaughnessy are the proud co-owners and co-principals of Little Red Hen Pre-Primary in Winston Park.
It really is a remarkable little place, not least because of the family element involved. Apart from Fay and Merle and their grandchildren pupils, their late mother also taught at the school, which has morphed from those tiny beginnings into a successful, highly reputable school. And it’s absolutely charming.
Today, some 130 littlies runaround at playtime, engaged in a variety of very busy activities, from swarming over jungle-gyms and making mud-pies to pedalling on tricycles and darting in and out of the Zulu hut.
There’s a cacophony of shrieks, yells, laughter and excited chatter, and I can only marvel at women who take on the onerous profession of teaching!
“When we started,” says Fay, “there was just one pre-primary in the Hillcrest/Winston Park area. We were firm believers in the value of a good foundation in the formative years, and so our school, which started with just 26 children, grew with care and nurturing until we were able to buy a piece of land ten years later and build a school.”
The two sisters’ mom, Nor, as she was always called, taught in the Montessori Centre until she was 89 years old, and was also responsible for aftercare lunches and the making of paper aeroplanes that have been a hit with little boys for generations.
Their grandmother was also a frequent visitor to the school until her death. Then there are three of the five domestic workers who’ve been with the school for 25 years, and Merle’s daughter also taught here for a while.
What really struck me, though, was the extraordinarily clever combination of orthodox teaching methods as well as Montessori. As far as I’m aware, no one else does it.
“Our Montessori Centre opened in 2007,” says Merle, who has added a Montessori diploma to her teaching qualifications. Thus the Little Red Hen children benefit from the best of traditional and alternative philosophies. Montessori entails their learning via concrete equipment, after which they go into the classroom and apply it in practice.
They also have the Audiblox programme, offered by Fay every morning. Audiblox is a system of cognitive exercises aimed at the development of foundational learning skills in reading, writing, spelling and maths. It also teaches concentration.
Pupils are aged between 18 months to six years old (they’ve introduced a Grade R at the school), and there are eight teachers, apart from Fay and Merle. Opening hours have been extended until five, which is great for working moms, and cooked lunches are provided.
Little Red hen boasts two music programmes, one of which is classical. “Classical music enriches our children’s lives,” says Merle. “It helps them to discover the good in themselves and others, and develops those areas in the brain responsible for language and mathematical abilities, and adds to the general enhancement of the IQ.”
Where does the name come from? The sisters laugh.
“If you remember your childhood story about the little red hen who started with a grain of wheat and landed up with a loaf of bread . . . we started with a grain, and now have our loaf of bread. We feel the name is very appropriate!”
81A Jan Smuts Avenue, Winston Park
e-mail Little Red Hen, telephone 031 767 1759
Website www.lrh.co.za
1 Comment
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually know what you are speaking about! Bookmarked.