Rose Garden Preschool is a preschool in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, founded in 2004 by Derek and Tulua Smith (the parents of Penina and inlaws of Chelsea, co-creators of the website Enable Me To Grow). Chelsea visited this school in 2006 and had since wanted to support it. When her family again visited in 2013 for four weeks, she spent most mornings of the week days at the school finding out what they needed and, with input from the teachers, modifying and implementing some of the lessons from the Radiant Hearts program. Seeing the need for group activities, specifically ones that required no materials except what the school already had (chalk, chalkboards, a few balls, crayons and some paper), she began working on the Radiant Hearts Classroom Edition plus all the associated resources (coming soon!) and implemented it in the school.
Find out about a typical day at Rose Garden by watching this video:
More About Rose Garden
Rose Garden Preschool charges K300 per year (40 weeks of school), though most families do not pay even half that amount. The school runs Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 12 noon. Teachers have no formal training but have taken Ruhi Book 1 and Ruhi Book 3. Teachers receive about K30 a week (equivalent to about US$15) which almost meets the minimum pay for Papua New Guinea (K2.5 per hour). Each year a group of mothers undergoes training in hopes that one or two may fill teaching roles as they are needed.
Since March 2013, we have contributed resources to the school including:
There are several things Rose Garden Preschool could benefit greatly from, including:
- Renovations for the front stairs, which are in very poor condition and not very safe for children to be using
- Some storage area renovations such as a better shelf for supplies
- A new (cleaner) mat for the children to sit on
Here are some more photos taken in March 2013.
To find out more about the Radiant Hearts Classroom Edition materials, developed for Rose Garden, watch this space.
