Cotlands received a directive from the Department of Social Development (DSD) that all Early Childhood Development centres and partial care facilities should close from Wednesday, 18 March 2020 in response to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Cotlands closed all toy library and early learning playgroups in line with the circular sent out by the Department.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a countrywide lockdown from Thursday, 26 March 2020 at midnight. Cotlands offices across the country will be temporarily closed during this period, until further notice.

In the interim, our early learning facilitators and toy librarians are in contact with our parents/caregivers to check on our children’s well-being and to encourage parents to continue to facilitate play at home. Cotlands has set up a data free parent portal to share information on daily play activities and produced video resources linked to the weekly lesson plans.

Nations are uniting across the world to fight this global pandemic and our joint actions will ensure the safety of our communities. Taking a stand together during this difficult period has made us realise just how important it is to support one another. Our children need your help now more than ever so that we can chart a different path for them after we beat this pandemic. It is an opportunity to develop and grow vulnerable children to their fullest potential through early learning play-based opportunities once we return to the “new normal”.

If you have any general enquiries, please email info@cotlands.org. If you would like to speak to someone directly, please call +27 (0) 82 635 3582. Cotlands will continue to work with our partners to ensure that we effectively plan ahead once the lockdown period ends.

Stay home. Stay safe. Stay healthy.                                                   

Public Hotline number: 0800 029 999 | DOH WhatsApp: 060 012 3456