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The Indaba ecosystem
A woman studies a small seedling held up in her fingers.

Ways to build with us · Deploy

Bring CoRE to the children you serve.

CoRE is built to be delivered with local partners: it trains the women already running early childhood centres, in their own community and language, without taking them out of work.

Discuss a partnership

Why deploy CoRE

It works with the people already there: the women running your community's early childhood centres, in their own language, without taking them out of work.

And it leaves capability behind: graduates can follow a defined pathway to become the facilitators who train the next cohort.

Washing hung on a line between homes on a bright morning.

What a programme involves

A proven shape, adapted to your community.

  1. Seven months of training

    Seven modules, one week a month, with practice in the practitioners' own classrooms in between.

  2. In their language

    Training has been delivered in isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English.

  3. Mentoring until it holds

    Facilitator visits during the programme and for at least five months after it.

  4. Local facilitators

    A defined pathway turns graduates into the facilitators who train the next cohort.

  5. Independent evidence

    Child outcomes assessed independently with the Early Learning Outcomes Measure.

Inside CoRE

Seven modules. Seven months. One transformation.

Each month a cohort gathers for a week of training, then returns to its classrooms to practise. Swipe through what a practitioner studies, and what it is for.

  1. A smiling woman in a grey top stands in front of a blue classroom wall.

    Module 1

    The state of self

    The adult's own state in guiding the child; rediscovering the potential of every child; the Montessori way of being with children.

    What it is for An adult who sees each child's potential, and her own.

  2. A girl sprays a plant leaf while a teacher watches beside her.

    Module 2

    The environment

    Preparing and caring for the room; observing and approaching the child; daily routines; activities of daily living; caring for the Earth.

    What it is for A calm, ordered room where children can act for themselves.

  3. A child spells the word "pen" with cut-out letters on a mat.

    Module 3

    Language

    The power of spoken language; kind communication; celebrating mother tongue; the foundations of literacy.

    What it is for Children who speak, listen and begin to read in their own language.

  4. Wooden knobbed cylinder blocks, a Montessori material, set out on a table.

    Module 4

    The senses and the intellect

    Classifying what the senses perceive; growing awareness of the wider world; developing the intellect and executive thinking.

    What it is for Concentration, comparison, reasoning: the roots of executive function.

  5. Children hold out their hands as an adult places seeds in their palms outdoors.

    Module 5

    The world

    The diversity of the world; care for all living things; celebrating our own and other cultures and traditions.

    What it is for Curiosity about the world and care for what lives in it.

  6. A teacher laughs with young children around a table in a bright classroom.

    Module 6

    Observation and planning

    Deepening observation and reflection to inform planning; culture and literacy; lesson planning.

    What it is for A teacher who follows the child, and plans from what she sees.

  7. A hand traces a sandpaper numeral 2 on a green card.

    Module 7

    Order and number

    Classroom management; the tendencies for order and exactitude; the mathematical mind; the foundations of numeracy.

    What it is for Order in the room, and the first confident steps into number.

Who we deploy with

Different starting points, one ambition.

  • A sandy street between informal homes, washing drying along the fences.

    Delivery partnership

    Municipalities

    Bring CoRE to the centres in your area, drawing on your existing mandate, venues and people.

  • A teacher laughs with young children around a table in a bright classroom.

    Practitioner development

    Early childhood networks and schools

    Strengthen the adults already working with your children, centre by centre.

  • A woman walks along a street holding a small child by the hand.

    Funding partnership

    Foundations and companies

    Fund a programme in a community you care about, with reporting you can stand behind.

  • A boy glues paper with a brush at a wooden table.

    Evidence

    Research partners

    Baseline-to-endline studies and practice research, with ethics before measurement.

How partnership works

Listen. Design. Support. Learn.

  1. Listen

    To the context, the centres and local leadership.

  2. Design

    A shared purpose and a realistic scope.

  3. Support

    Plan the support practitioners will need over time.

  4. Learn

    Agree how progress is reviewed, and use the evidence to improve.

It has been done

The first South African programmes ran because a municipality provided transport, catering and venues.

In the Cape Winelands, with Stellenbosch Municipality.

A yellow single-storey creche building behind a fence decorated with painted half-tyres.
Photographed before September 2024.

Questions

Good to know.

How long does a programme run?

Seven modules, one week a month, followed by mentoring for at least five months after the last module.

Do centres have to change their curriculum?

No. CoRE is not a curriculum. Practitioners keep the programme they use; CoRE changes the relationship between the adult, the child and the room.

How is progress measured?

Facilitators use a checklist for practice at every centre visit, and children's development can be assessed independently with the Early Learning Outcomes Measure.

Discuss a partnership

Tell us about the children you serve.

Municipalities, networks, foundations and companies: write to the Foundation. No exploratory conversation is presented as a partnership until it is one.

Start the conversationAll ways to build with us