As a proudly South African company, we believe that we have a responsibility to support our communities in the same way they support us. We consider every Ackermans store to be a member of the community it serves, and we contribute to these communities through donations, sponsorships, and various relief efforts. However, we are most proud of our success in early childhood development with our flagship programme, Ububele Schools.

ACKERMANS UBUBELE SCHOOLS

Ackermans Ububele Schools is an early childhood development (ECD) programme that provides holistic support to underprivileged schools and their communities. This support enables educational centres to provide children with nutrition, nurturing childcare, and quality learning programmes. 

OUR PROGRAMME

Our programme aims to entrench a culture of reading and, consequently, develop an appreciation for education and learning. We transform the early childhood learning environment by:

  • Introducing new, quality literacy programmes
  • Improving the physical environment
  • Developing teacher skills
  • Equipping parents to support informal learning at home

COMMITTED TO EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT 

Early childhood development has a direct impact on future learning and development, and studies have shown that it has a direct impact on the rest of a child’s academic life. By funding training and quality resources, we enable schools in underserved communities to provide children with food, quality childcare, and effective learning programmes, in a caring, clean and safe space. With a strong network of flexible, resourceful, and committed partners, we can maintain offerings to existing schools, and add more schools, in existing and new regions. 

OUR VISION 

Ackermans Ububele Schools was created to support the foundation and growth of quality education in participating schools, on a long-term basis. We developed the programme to offer a suite of services that support the specific needs of the learners, their age groups, practitioner development, parent support, and physical environment.

OUR GROWTH  

Since 2016 we have invested over R100 million in early childhood development. We are operating in seven provinces, and have additional partners supporting us in many areas, from nutrition, food security, play, culture to parent support, and community upliftment. We remain grateful for the invaluable expertise, resourcefulness, and support of our collaborative partners who make our efforts possible. 

OUR IMPACT 

In collaboration with The Unlimited Child and Do More Foundation, we currently support 540 ECD centres.  

With Ackermans’ funding and vision, The Unlimited Child programme offers invaluable support to ECD centres, learners, practitioners, and parents across the Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and the Free State; supporting over 17 000 practitioners, 27 000 learners, and 29 000 parents. 

We also fund the supply and distribution of daily, nutritional Do More Instant Breakfast Porridge to the most vulnerable ECD centres within the Ackermans Ububele Schools network.  

LOOKING AHEAD 

We are committed to growing Ackermans Ububele Schools as our flagship programme because we firmly believe that early education has a formative impact on the futures of South Africa’s next generation of leaders. We project to have 600 additional ECD centres added to the programme by 2025. 

By providing quality, free educational resources, The Unlimited Child impacts many lives across South Africa and now internationally, in Lesotho and Zimbabwe. To date, we’ve offered our support to a reach of 3000 ECD centres and over one million preschoolers in underserved communities; enabling them to meet the required level of school readiness. Our programmes and initiatives ensure that our next generation of leaders are a step ahead and have shown to be effective.

The Unlimited Childgoes beyond the extra mile to equip childminders and preschoolers beyond what schools can achieve on their own. Through our free educational resource initiative, we bring direct impact to our communities. We have a variety of materials such as activity cards, stories, and lessons. To find out more aboutThe Unlimited Childprogrammes, click here:https://theunlimitedchild.org/about-us/