Preschool Opening in the news!

Chris Booth :: Friday 21st July 2023 :: This Story

Thinakarann News
All Island Tamil Newspaper

Porathivu Patrru Vellaveli Division Batticlaoa District  Ammankulam Preschool was opened on Tuesday 18th July. A local resident, Mr Daniel, donated the land so that a preschool could be built. The Child Development Ministry and Ocean Stars Trust UK funded the building of the school. Dilanee Bunter from Ocean Stars Trust UK attended the opening ceremony

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Opening of Ammankulam preschool

Watch the video on our blog

Chris Booth :: Thursday 20th July 2023 :: This Story

Learning about animals

Chris Booth :: Thursday 20th July 2023 :: This Story

Picture: /files/latest-news/536/w288/animal5.jpgCreative Development is one of the of Early Years areas covered in our Child Development Programme. Our preschool children embrace any opportunity to be creative with great enthusiasm and vigour!
 
Last week they learnt about animals and focused on lions - they made lion masks and pretended to be lions. They enjoyed using their imagination and using their voices to roar like lions and had a laugh at the same time. ????
 
 
We thank our teachers who work tirelessly to make sure that our children have the best early years learning experience possible!
 
If you would like to sponsor a teacher at one of our preschools, please visit our page for more information - https://oceanstars.org.uk/sponsor-a-teacher-sri-lanka
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Meeting face-to-face

With the OSL team

Chris Booth :: Wednesday 19th July 2023 :: This Story

After 8 months of weekly zoom meetings, the Ocean Stars Lanka team and Dilanee were delighted to meet face to face! Meeting members of the Ocean Stars UK Board means a lot to our staff on the ground. They were eager to show Dilanee the office and their workstations.

Together they looked at a summary of all the work that had been completed during the last 6 months from January to June 2023:

  • 92 visits have been made to our 30 preschools.
  • 16 visits made to our Hope House projects.
  • 108 sponsor children have visited our office.
  • 72 sponsor home visits have been completed.
  • 38 meetings have been attended to that have been run by the local government and the preschool bureau.
  • 50 visits to monitor our playground project.

We are very proud of our Ocean Stars Lanka team and we would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication!

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Dilanee in Sri Lanka

Chris Booth :: Monday 17th July 2023 :: This Story

Dilanee, our Head of Operations, is currently in Sri Lanka on a monitoring visit and to attend our annual residential teacher training.
 
On her first full day in Sri Lanka, Dilanee visited Yatiyanthota preschool. Ocean Stars was approached in 2015 and asked if we would fund the building of a preschool classroom within the compound of St Peters Methodist Church as they felt the need for a preschool in the community. OST obtained funding to help with the preschool building and St Peters Preschool opened in 2016 with an intake of 12 children. Today they have 51 children registered and a long waiting list!
 
The children come from nearby rubber estates and some of them have journeys of over an hour to get to preschool. The families live in basic housing built by the British and are called the lines. The parents are very grateful to all that Ocean Stars does to help their children access a high-quality Early Years Programme.
 
During Dilanee's visit, the children listened to a story, sang songs and played team games. A drink of Milo and a biscuit provided everyone with a break from the heat, noise and excitement!!
The students are looking forward to October 2023 when a team of UK volunteers will be visiting them again with a morning of fun-filled activities!
 
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Physical Development

Chris Booth :: Friday 14th July 2023 :: This Story

Picture: /files/latest-news/530/w288/assess4.jpgOST has introduced a child development programme, which includes an assessment tool to track Early Learning Goals. 

During the recent round of assessments, and as part of their physical development, students had to show they could move confidently and freely in different ways. For example, by crawling, rolling, walking, running, jumping, sliding and hopping.

Our students had great fun demonstrating their well-developed skills in this area!

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Being creative and showing skills

Chris Booth :: Tuesday 11th July 2023 :: This Story

Ocean Stars Trust is committed to offering the 1000+ students who attend our 30 preschools a high quality Early Years education. OST has introduced a child development tool which has three strands.

  1. Assessment tool to track Early Learning Goals
  2. Quality teacher training
  3. Provision of resources


During the recent round of assessments, students had to show they have some control when using scissors. They have to begin to hold and use scissors correctly and begin to make snips in paper with child scissors. Our students love being creative and using scissors to cut paper for collages and craft work!

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Newsletter June 2023

Welcome to our summer newsletter

Naomi Booth :: Tuesday 4th July 2023 :: This Story

Latest NewsPicture: /files/publications/526/w288/june-2023-newsletter-v5-1.jpg

Three cycles of our flagship Assessment Tool completed in 2022. A total of 2400 assessments were completed.

847 students have enrolled in our 29 preschools for 2023.

OST Trustees are pleased to welcome two new Trustees onto our Trustee Board.

Breakfast programme established in 15 preschools and marked improvements in children's health and weight have been recorded.

 Hope House projects continue to provide village women with skills that empower them to set up their own business.

Planning is underway to resume volunteer trips, and Calthorpe Park School have 21 students signed up for October 2023.

Ocean Stars Trust was shortlisted for Charity Governance Award and became Runners-Up the Category Improving Impact in Small Charities.

Download Newsletter

 

Hands on Student Volunteers in Sri Lanka

Chris Booth :: Friday 30th June 2023 :: This Story

Picture: /files/press-releases/528/w288/2018-10-03-srilanka.jpgIn support of their newly adopted charity, Ocean Stars, a delegate of staff and students from the Avonbourne Trust headed out to Sri Lanka.

The epic journey saw seven Year 11 and 13 students and four staff members from the Bournemouth multi-academy trust spend five days in the regions of Batticaloa and Trincomalee, where communities have been affected by both the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, and the 2009 civil war.

Led by the trust's CEO Debbie Godfrey-Phaure, the group volunteered at Ocean Stars' Sri Lankan schools.

Debbie said, "We are absolutely delighted to be adopting Ocean Stars Trust as our charity, especially after witnessing first-hand the tremendous work they are doing in Sri Lanka.

"It is particularly powerful that the charity believes passionately, like us, that education is key to empowering children to a brighter future."

A highlight was witnessing the official opening of a new playground in one of the Ocean Stars' pre-schools. All of the equipment had been paid for by donations to the charity.

Read the full report

https://www.dorsetview.co.uk/hands-on-student-volunteers-bring-joy-to-ocean-stars-in-sri-lanka/

Samba Bands in Batticlaoa

Inspired by UK secondary school visits

Chris Booth :: Wednesday 28th June 2023 :: This Story

Picture: /files/latest-news/532/w288/band1.jpgCalthorpe Park School has been making cultural visits to Sri Lanka since 2013. Mr Ross Walker, Head of Music, has left a legacy of Samba Bands at several secondary schools in Batticlaoa. The Samba Band that he introduced in 2014 to Vipulanantha High School now has a reputation in the town of Batticlaoa as a high-quality Samba Band and are often invited to local ceremonies. Recently they were invited to an opening ceremony of an Insurance Company in the town of Batticlaoa.

If you are a teacher and would like to offer your students a life-transforming trip to Sri Lanka then please visit our website www.oceanstars.org.uk and contact us!