Meet Elijah

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Elijah is 4 years old and he started baby class at Loco ECD Centre a few terms ago. During the first parent -teacher meeting, Elijah’s father mentioned that he can be mischievous at home and needed close supervision. Doreen is Elijah’s teacher, and she noticed within the first few weeks that he often snatched snacks from other children, would always disappear outside the class and didn’t seem to trust anyone apart from his mum and dad.  ​

She also saw that Elijah (having never been in school before) was not used to the classroom environment, so could not do simple things like responding to the bell or waiting his turn during play. He didn’t have good eating habits and wouldn’t consider sharing with others. Elijah also had very little interest in studying or staying at school. According to Doreen, “His first little while with us was a test of nerves because he completely had no interest in any school activity and wanted to return home with his father immediately after registration”.

Since his parents had briefed teachers about how Elijah had been behaving prior to joining the Centre, they started to work with them to encourage positive discipline both at home and at school. Teacher’s talked a lot to Elijah about an exciting day out that was planned to Uganda’s capital city, Kampala. They mentioned that bad manners and inappropriate behaviour would mean that he wouldn’t be able to go on the trip, but also gently showed him how he might be able to act differently. 

By the beginning of the second term, Elijah had started to change, which put a smile on the faces of his parents and teachers. He surprised staff during the third term when he also began to show interest in reading, started writing independently and stopped fidgeting during lessons. Teachers now report that he has completely changed. He is a responsible, loving and caring boy at school, who always does his work and has developed a love for both classroom and extracurricular activities.

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