By Crista Trirahayu | School Principal
Learning and Growing Each Day!
7 March 2025
Dear friends and kind supporters of Taman Cipta Karya Nusantara Foundation,
Warmest greetings! We hope that this finds you well as we move into the last few months of a school year that has raced by and looks very different from how the year started This time last year we were still in our old traditional wooden joglo building and looking forward to moving into more spacious premises that would give the children plenty of room to explore and allow us to offer them more materials and apparatus to work with, not to mention a purpose-built playground area! Our hopes and dreams then came to fruition and The Lilliput World Montessori school successfully moved into our new building in the earlier part of the school and from time to time it’s good to pause for a moment and reflect on all that has happened. While the contrast in the where of our teaching and learning is obvious, we have paid a lot of attention to make sure that the how remains the same and that we continue to offer a values-based learning environment and a well-founded and warm-hearted educational experience for our young learners. We’ve also been working on the what and have made use of the extra space to hold additional literacy and numeracy classes as well as extra-curricular sessions on robotics and aikido, with latter taking place in our new multi-purpose hall.
There have been some adjustments to make as we continue settling in to the new building and making some re-arrangements to make sure that we maximise the quality of our offering and make the best of the space. At the same time, we have been adapting in a more important way as the number of students has also increased significantly and we now have about twice as many as a year ago – and still have room for further expansion. So, it’s been a delight to welcome some new teachers who have quickly become part of the school family while at the same time we have kept a focus on ensuring that they understand our philosophy and approach to education. In-service teacher development is therefore a regular feature within the school calendar and our own internal team, The Bridge Academy, provides training and skill development for teachers, parents and others, focusing on the Montessori method. We also invite guest lecturers to share insights and practical know-how to support the ongoing professional enrichment of teachers and for the benefit of parents. Our Parents Community goes from strength to strength and one of our efforts is to strive for consistency between home and school so that important learning and child development messages are supported and reinforced. Parents’ Group discussions are well-attended and both enjoyable and interesting, covering a range of relevant topics while parents also did a wonderful job in organising a mini-fair during two days of Open House activities for potential new students. The days both went very well and it was lovely to see excited and curious children exploring the school! This was followed just a few days ago with our participation in the Education Expo at Pakuwon Mall where our booth attracted over 250 interested parents and other visitors.
Exchanges with others in the educational field are always stimulating and we often receive enquiries from academics and other schools who are interested to see what we are doing. For example, we were happy to share our journey to date with a group of 18 visitors from the Islamic International School PSM of Magetan in East Java. Teachers, curriculum and other specialists were enthusiastic to learn more about our school management and setting, including effective class running and how we prepare the Montessori environment at school. We have always seen it as part of our mandate to share in this way with other schools, teachers and parents as part our overall mission to contribute to continuing improvement of the quality of education in Indonesia for the benefit of all. This was also a theme during an enjoyable visit and sharing in December 2024 with Dr Aishah Rumaysa Prastowo Head Teacher at Praxis Academy, Yogyakarta. From further afield, it was a pleasure to welcome a delegation from the University of Poitiers, France, comprising some 15 lecturers and students majoring in ethnomusicology and music arts education.
This very full calendar year came to a joyful end with a celebratory End-of-Term party in which, as well as fun and games, we looked back on the months behind and forward to the year ahead with enthusiasm, optimism and commitment. We now have a wonderful new home for The Lilliput World that we wish to put to good use in continuing to offer life-changing and life-enhancing educational opportunities for pre-schoolers aged 1-6 years old and are grateful for your involvement in helping us come this far. The new school building is mostly complete, although we still have some fit-out in a few rooms, and also need to ensure sustainability of the operation while at the same time wanting to be able to offer scholarships to those in need and so would greatly appreciate your continuing support as we strive to make this possible.
In that regard, later this month GlobalGiving is running its annual Little by Little campaign in which it will make a 50% matching gift of the first US $50 of each unique donation. The timeframe for this matching campaign starts at 05.00 GMT on 25 March 2025 and runs until 04.59 on 28 March 2025 (or when matching funds run out, if sooner) and donations may be made at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/loving-pre-school-education-in-java-indonesia/. We’d be most grateful for your support – and if you could pass the message on to friends!
With much gratitude and warmest wishes from all of us at Yayasan Taman Cipta Karya Nusantara.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
