OceanStars :: Thursday 30th October 2025 :: Latest Blog Posts
Pooncholai preschool of 22 kids is new to Ocean Stars this year, previously being funded by World Vision Lanka.
The school had a great layout - a large classroom for the 4-5 year olds with an L shape wrapped round it which at one end had the 3-4 year olds and at the other end a cloakroom and place for serving their meal - funded by Ocean Stars (the parents take turns to cook it at home).
There was a table with numbered squares for students to leave their water bottles, the same numbers on pegs for their bags and on the shoe rack for their shoes - so organised! And they're really going to learn their numbers.
The larger classroom was decorated with art, collage using beans, shells, seeds etc and coconut fish - truly magnificent, as was the children's previous artwork I was shown.
The students had been very well prepared for the caterpillar story and opened proceedings with one boy singing us a Tamil butterfly song.
They had their meal early, shortly after we arrived. They were then very alert, good with numbers, colours etc and they loved the dancing. One boy was so keen to get the movements (clapping, stamping etc) right that he copied my mouth movements as I sang the song as well.
The children's fine motor skills (a term I've picked up from our trained teachers, Helen and Lorna) were really good, as demonstrated by the way they handled the stickers.
It was a long drive there and back in a tuk-tuk (over an hour each way), so there was ample opportunity to study the rice fields and the Sri Lankan and Australian cranes - such great birds!
A big shout out to the teachers for bringing the kids up to this level, and to Thanusika for translation and co-teaching all week and to the tuk-tuk driver who acted as chief photographer and even assistant translator at a couple of points. A good team effort indeed.
