Every child has the right to learn
Ocean Stars Provides Preschools in communities where there is no provision for early years education
Most of our preschools are in remote villages where there are no government preschool educational opportunities.
We support around 30 preschools in Sri Lanka and believe passionately in the importance of early years development.
The opportunities we provide give the children the best possible start in their journey through education.
Our preschools are in four of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka.
The Provinces are divided into 25 Districts and our preschools are in 6 Districts as shown by the stars on the map.
Ocean Stars:
- Covers all the costs of running the preschool for one year.
- Pays the wages of the Preschool teachers and provide a sari as their 'uniform' for work
- Provides teacher training
- At the beginning of each school year, provide a uniform and a backpack for each child
A preschool costs between £1,900 and £4,000 a year to run depending on the number of children and teachers.
Since Ocean Stars was set up in 2005, an increasing number of children have had access to a quality early years preschool education.
Feedback from feeder primary schools is that children who have attended Ocean Stars Preschools shine like stars next to their peers, who have been to other preschools. Our students have good social skills, are more confident, can sing English songs, participate actively in lessons, have good attendance, and their emotional and physical skills are well-developed.
In August 2023 we met up with our previous students from grade 1-13 who are now in the school system. We. spent an amazing afternoon talking to these students about their memories of attending our Preschool, how it has helped them and what their aspirations are. Even now they confessed they still drop by to say hello to their preschool teacher.
We also spoke to a Grade 1 teacher from a Primary school, who has 30 students in her class, 16 of them are ex-Ocean Stars students. She said that it was like having two classes in one, the Ocean Stars students shone through in everything they did.
Many ex-students still credit Ocean Stars for their successes as they have grown.
Our preschools are well attended and are part of the community. The children's parents and teachers are dedicated to the children and their futures.
