Cailey Jones

Over the last ten years, Cailey Jones has worked her way up from volunteer to full-time teacher, vice-principal and finally principal of Botshabelo Urban Kids Educentre (UKE) in Midrand, South Africa. Today, she manages a team of 13 staff and provides up to 120 low-income preschool students, ages 3 to 6, with a high-quality education every year.

Driven by the knowledge that early access to education can change a child’s life, Jones has helped build Botshabelo’s preschool program from the ground up, filling a need for children who may not otherwise access preschool education. There, she’s introduced play-based learning, parent workshops, standardized assessment processes, and regular teacher evaluations and training. She is also using her skills to work towards securing funding for those UKE employees to pursue their own additional education.

With a goal to establish partnerships with local universities to have students studying Occupational Therapy, Child Psychology, Art Therapy, Speech Pathology intern at UKE, Cailey hopes it will become a resource centre not only for its students but for other preschools as well. In 2019, she was recognized as a Durham College Alumna of Distinction and was a guest speaker during the college’s Global Grad event.