Imani scores 14 years in early childhood education

September 7 was not a usual school day, as teachers, students and past students, parents, friends and well-wishers flocked to the grounds of the Imani Pre-school and Hanifah Daycare to celebrate its 14th anniversary in early childhood education.{{more}}

Joel Woodley, assistant director of Imani Pre-school and Hanifah Daycare, said his wife Onia Mckenzie, a social worker, started the institution on January 27, 1992 in London.

‘We wanted to home-school our daughters, Woodley said.

In September 1998, the family relocated to St Vincent.

“We wanted the girls to have a Caribbean life,” Woodley explained.

In 1998, McKenzie-Woodley opened an Imani branch in St Vincent. The family returned to London in 2001.

Woodley told SEARCHLIGHT he returned to St Vincent in 2010 and has been overseeing the school’s operations since.

He said giving his experiences and his involvement in early childhood education for the past 30 years and the early childhood subsector for the past two years, puts Imani a step ahead in implementation processes and maintenance of the required standards.

Woodley told SEARCHLIGHT that Imani Pre-school and Hanifah Daycare were named after two of his five daughters; Imani meaning faith and Hanifah, which means a true believer.

For many years, Imani thrived on the motto: To have faith in ourselves is a firm foundation to success. Imani Pre-school aims to continue to develop the nation’s future leaders with the assistance of the capable support team of teachers employed at the school.