Ms. Bernadette King-Turner, Director of Yellow Brick Road Nursery, Emerald City Nursery and soon to open Crystal Valley Nursery speech for the Launch of the UAE Nurseries Website held on Wednesday 17^th February 2010 at Raffles

Present were Her Excellency, Mrs. Mariam Khalfan Al Roumi, The Minister of the Ministry of Social Affairs I Mrs. Mosa Al Shoomi, the Director of Child Department, plus other distinguished guests.

“We believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we ought to be…”

17 February 2010

Bisme Allah al Rahman al Raheem
Al Salaam Alaycom (peace on you)

 I would like to take this occasion to thank Her Excellency, Mrs. Mariam Khalfan Al Roumi, The Minister of the Ministry of Social Affairs for her immense effort and support in the development and launch of the ‘UAE Nurseries Website’.

I would also like to honor and congratulate Mrs. Mosa Al Shoomi, the Director of Child Department, for all her achievements and accomplishments.   Moza’s dedication and hard work for the care and welfare of the children in the UAE is truly recognizable.

Ahalan Wasahalan – Tena koto, tena koto, ten koto, katowa  -  welcome – welcome to one and all.

Fellow nursery owners, directors, managers, other nursery staff and guests, I wish to acknowledge on this occasion today to say that now is a great opportune time for us to unite - no nursery is an island, we are all honorable people and our aim is to create the best, the safest and happiest early learning environment possible for babies and young children residing within the UAE.

We are all right, we are all correct in our aims – no matter which curriculum and learning programmes we follow - some nurseries will follow EYFS, some Montessori, some Rudolf Steiner, some Reggio Emilia, plus many others.  Yellow Brick Road Nursery, Emerald City Nursery and my two new Nurseries Crystal Valley and Indigo Valley incorporate learning programmes from various curriculums including the New Zealand Early Learning Curriculum - Te Wharaki –- our aim and the aim of all UAE Nurseries is to focus on the greater good for all children, and not upon our personal egos. 

It is equally essential that all Nursery’s beautiful and professional philosophies and understandings of early childhood education are also recognized and understood by all.

We are present here today because we jointly share one common belief and understanding, we are here because we believe in our children and we believe in doing whatever we possibly can for the betterment of each child entrusted within our nurseries; as we all know our children are our future.

As a direct down line result of the immense foresight and visions of the UAE’s great leaders –  the late Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan and Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum and now our visionary leader His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,  Hafizahoo Allah

Under the guidance and rule of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum we can operate with full transparency and with full cooperation from the concerned Ministries – namely the Ministry of Social Affairs, The Ministry of Labour and The Ministry of Health.

My staff over the past twelve months or so has been in discussion with different members of local bodies, Ministries and other Nursery Director colleagues and as a result of these discussions we strongly realized and requested that further bonding and cooperation could take place between all UAE nurseries along with the appropriate UAE Ministries.

I wish to express on behalf of my Nurseries our sincere thanks to Her Excellency Ms. Mariam Khalfan Al Roumi and also Mrs. Moza Al Shoomi and their Ministry team for taking this bold step forward in introducing and putting into action the EGate system.

The use of the EGate communication portal means that all Nursery business operators must be up to date and well versed with the latest technology.  Our Nursery children are born into the age of technology and it is our responsibility to provide whatever we can as Early Childhood mentors with regards to the 21^st century demand for communication.

Two years back I invested in installing the Promethean Interactive Learning Boards into my Nursery classrooms – the introduction of these learning tools has I can say truly transformed my Nurseries, this expertise has leaped the Nurseries into the age of technology suited to the children learning within this century.

The UAE is a unique community; we have more Nationalities of people residing together than any other country.  Our UAE Nurseries care for children from many different, nations, customs, beliefs and cultures – we must recognize the need of each and every child and their families and I believe the implementation of the EGate System will highly assist us to further reach out to each community member as this facility is on line and available to each and every member of our community.

A Nursery’s voice being heard and understood is essential and so too are the voices of our Nursery parents’ – this online gateway I understand will give a voice to all parents and allow them to present their constructive input. The parent’s comments must be credible and answerable and, this is a portal for accountability – this EGate discussion forum can never succumb to accepting general gossip and humiliation.

I also believe as responsible community leaders that it is great for us to be in a position to offer parents support as so many young expatriate parents residing within the UAE are totally isolated and removed from their own immediate family units.

The Early Childhood Learning and upbringing is as we are all acutely aware the most essential time in a human being’s life, the experiences a baby and young child receives at this time cements a definite attitude and approach to the child’s later life.  However, the Nursery is not the child’s parent and the Nurseries cannot take the parent’s place with regards to the upbringing of their young child. We are here to love, support, encourage, nurture and to keep the children safe.

At times we face the difficult realization that some children cannot cope with the everyday routines of Nursery life, due to either a physical or intellectual challenge. Yellow Brick Road Nursery has always cared for children who have special educational/learning needs (SEN) and provides additional staff to meet these needs.

It is also unfortunate to realize but it is factual that more and more young children are being diagnosed with Autism.  As Nursery Directors, Managers and Nurses we are often the first person to discuss this most sensitive subject with the child’s parents and we are the ones to bring to their attention and realization that their child does indeed require extra assistance.

This additional assistance can prove to be costly for the parents as invariably a one to one child/staff ratio is required to care for their child.  It is also noticed that at times when parents do not initially accept their child’s different learning style that they move their child from one Nursery to another in the hope that someone in authority will say “your child does not require extra support”.

Unfortunately, this moving about Nurseries is wasting a lot of valuable time for the child as early intervention with their treatment regime is essential to their future learning and wellbeing. The parents must receive full cooperation from us and we must fully cooperate with each other as Nurseries and other support UAE Centers such as the special needs centres.

This highly sensitive subject is again where EGate can be accommodating with us, as I firmly believe we as Nursery Directors and Managers, must communicate with each other; I do not believe in business competition with children; I only believe in achieving what is right for each child and as I mentioned earlier my ego has no part to play with the daily care and support for each baby and child entrusted within my care.

My personal aim is to give all support to all children, my new Nursery – Indigo Valley Nursery which will hopefully open very soon, is designed to cater to children with special needs; the children we will care for will hopefully have an added advantage of being part of the mainstream educational system.

Confidentiality is critical and paramount – We are putting a lot of faith and trust into the EGate system, we expect back total professional acumen and prudence, at times our communication could be highly confidential and sensitive, therefore, we expect EGate to confirm to all Codes of Ethics to protect all those who are entrusting your programs.

This too we request from the Government Ministries, we rely on receiving your support and encouragement, as we are the ones who are working each day with the thousands of UAE children and their parents.  We are the ones who are on the ground facing all the challenges both good and difficult.  We are the ones who understand our children’s and our parent’s unique requirements, we strongly request to keep receiving your admirable support and assistance.

Also, as mentioned earlier all UAE Nurseries are different, and it is our differences that is typical of the joy of the UAE, we are grateful that our differences are acknowledged and accepted within the UAE community, so long as we all follow safe practice and our children are protected at all times from unhealthy influences and are receiving correct and ethical nursery care, then all is good.

The EGate portal will again be most helpful for all of us within the community as credible information can now be placed on a credible online program.

Through this EGate portal we can join hands and when in need we can reach out to each other to create a wonderful and cooperating Nursery community. It is through EGate that we can now share our information, our knowledge and our understandings of early childhood education and also offer joint parent guidance and assistance

This EGate portal gives us a voice, give parents a voice and ultimately gives the UAE children a voice.

Thank you once again Her Excellency Ms. Mariam Khalfan Al Roumi  and Mrs. Mosa Al Shoomi for granting us this opportunity to speak.

Thank you too to all my Nursery staff for your continued dedication and unconditional love for all children.

Shukaran Katheeran

Thank you

Bernadette King-Turner
Director

Yellow Brick Road Nursery
Emerald City Nursery
Crystal Valley Nursery
Indigo Valley Nursery