Bitou 10 Foundation Winter 2012 Newsletter
Here’s what we’ve been up to so far this year
Combatting violence and creating spaces of safety in our schools
On 21 January B10F and the WCED’s Circuit 4 Team offered an interactive Workshop led by acclaimed Process Facilitator Dr Barbara Holtmann who works primarily with fragile system transformations through the use of Social Transformation System Methodology; this process offers fresh inclusive integration and collaboration, with renewed opportunity for real social impact with schools as the centres of safe communities, its fundamental basis being: “What will it look like when it’s fixed?”
Barbara’s illustrious career includes significant work done with Business Against Crime, the Secretariat of Safety and Security, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Barbara holds a Doctorate in Management of Technology and Innovation, and a Masters degree in Public and Development Management.
Following the Executive Mayor’s welcome more than 60 representatives and learners from all the B10F schools – as well as the Mayor himself – participated in a hugely interactive time, a real exercise in a lively demonstration of our culture of collaboration as formalised in our ECP with the Circuit 4 Team.
The cycle of violence and abuse is self-perpetuating; it is clear that we as a nation and a society are attempting to deal with it by being reactive, rather than preventative. It is however a systemic phenomenon and no one intervention can solve it; the approach therefore has to be systemic – a culture of collaboration is the cornerstone.
Our school communities are fragile societies and if they are to become more resilient and therefore more secure and safe so that children can learn and teachers can teach, a broad local community response that focuses on prevention rather than reaction must be called into being; all stakeholders across the community and government spectrum need to come together to claim these fragile communities as their responsibility, each doing what it is required within a collaborative and interactive system.
This Workshop was a hugely successful prologue; we will ensure that Barbara returns to help us grow a local initiative to break this cycle of violence and abuse. Our thanks go to Father Stevens and Sylvia Christian of the St Christopher Church for making their hall available for this event.
Operation Upgrade’s ECD School Learning Readiness Programme
In March 15 ECD Grade R educators attended the WCED Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement training and received training materials, the first time Bitou’s ECD Grade R educators have received training in Grade R curriculum changes alongside the WCED educators, all made possible by the signing of our Expression of Common Purpose (ECP) agreement with the WCED’s Circuit 4 Team.
This is a major step forward in improving the school readiness skills of Bitou’s preschool children and drawing the ECD sector closer to the Foundation Phase. Until this year Grade R aged children at ECD sites have been ignored, as neither the WCED nor the Department of Social Development were catering for their needs in terms of preparing them for school unless the children were fortunate enough to attend one of 3 ECD Grade R classes subsidised by the WCED.
As a result of our collaborative relationship with the WCED Circuit 4 Team the needs of Grade R children in the ECD sector are now beginning to be met. The partnership relationship with the Circuit 4 Team has resulted in closer monitoring of service delivery within the sector, ensuring that the ECD sector and the Foundation Phase educators work more closely together in preparing our Grade R aged children for school.
Thank you to Murray and Roberts and particularly to Donique de Figueiredo for their encouragement and support of this programme.
B10F kids benefit from Nedbank’s Back to School Programme
During the course of our ongoing relationship building with Corporate Social Investors Gugu had occasion to meet with Nedbank Foundation’s Kone Gugushe, Divisional Executive: Corporate Social Responsibility, and Thabile Zulu: Portfolio Manager for the Western Cape, in May 2011 with who she left a personalised B10F mouse pad.
Thabile called unexpectedly in February this year, saying she had noticed a number of the kids featured on our mouse pad were without shoes or correct school uniform, or both. She told us of their Back to School Programme, asking us to identify the 50 kids in our schools most in need of assistance so that Nedbank could sponsor full school uniforms for them. Laura Theobald from Nedbank’s regional George office handed the uniforms, along with surprise stationery packs, over to school representatives of the 50 grateful children at a ceremony on 22 March. And they went the extra mile, surprising us when additional donations of school bags and pencil cases for the kids arrived in the mail shortly afterward.
Programmatising the BIEDP
The BIEDP, first conceptualised in 2009, concentrates on the four imperatives which underpin our work: integrating all local education sectors and services from ECD to young adult education | addressing barriers to quality education for all learners including those with special needs | establishing a learner support system at every learning site | and linking education to the world of work and opportunity. Establishing Literacy and Numeracy as the very foundation of education however remains the basis in which all our work is engrained. Read more
This graphic illustrates our work in a nutshell:
Transformation to Inclusive Education
An alarming number of learners in our schools have developmental delays which impact negatively on their academic performance. As a result, 35 percent of Foundation Phase learners are failing to achieve the minimum requirements for their grade.
Earlier this year and in partnership with the WCED Circuit 4 Team we established a peer support group for the Learner Support educators from six schools who work with the Grades 1 to 5 learners experiencing difficulties.
At monthly meetings with local Occupational Therapists Nicole McDonald and Michelle Luyt the Learner Support peer support group confers on the challenges faced by their learners, and shares ideas and experiences.
We were able to use funds from the Dietmar Hopp Foundation grant to subsidise the training in Inclusive Education of more than 30 educators from 8 B10F schools in May. The three workshops offered by Inclusive Education Western Cape addressed ‘Understanding Barriers to Learning’, ‘Establishing a Functional Institutional Level Support Team’, and ‘Multi-level Teaching’.
On 6 June Grades R, 1 and Learner Support educators – 19 in all – participated in an interactive teaching and learning workshop facilitated by Nicole where they pooled ideas and created multi-sensory activities aimed at developing learners’ fine motor skills with suggestions being made to the group as to how they could incorporate these activities into their lessons.
This was the first in a series of workshops developed by Nicole and Michelle aimed at empowering Foundation Phase teachers to address the most common developmental delays and barriers to learning experienced by their learners. The ensuing workshop will address perception problems affecting learners’ reading ability while the final workshop will cover visual-motor integration – the most commonly identified problem in our Foundation Phase learners.
Parents at non-fee paying schools are unable to afford occupational, speech, physio- or remedial therapy for their children while the WCED does not have the capacity to provide the weekly therapy required by these learners. Consequently we are working closely with the Circuit 4 Team to develop strategies and interventions with the view to building capacity within the B10F schools to ensure that learners not coping in mainstream schooling receive the requisite support during their classes.
To the Nedbank Foundation, our deep gratitude for the grant which has enabled the expansion of this programme during 2012 and 2013!
Phakamisani Dance and Drama Showcase
On 14 June the 118 learners from Phakamisani Primary participating in the Dance and Drama arena of our Afterschool Activities Programme (ASAP) showed the Bitou community what they have achieved under the tuition of the Lunchbox Theatre team this year. The showcase was held at the Simunye Community Centre in KwaNokuthula, and what a testament to teamwork, commitment and personal accomplishment it was.
The ASAP, funded by the Dietmar Hopp Foundation, focuses primarily on the performing arts and sports development. It is our belief that our children’s formal schooling needs to be augmented by experiences that teach them the life skills that can only be acquired by participation in activities that engage their imaginations and energies, their enthusiasm and creativity; activities that teach them the value of self-discipline, teamwork and commitment, of perseverance; and above all the value of interdependence and sharing.
The ASAP aims to promote and develop a greater appreciation of the benefits of afterschool activities among Bitou’s parents, teachers and learners; the programme, which keeps Bitou’s youth constructively and positively occupied after school hours, is in keeping with B10F’s commitment to give our local youth opportunity to develop the skills to achieve their full potential, to dare to dream, to realise they are able to make a constructive contribution to society irrespective of socio-economic background.
Knysna Eisteddfod
In February we contracted the services of Choir Director Tessa Kay and accompanist Caryn Botha from Creative Music to establish the choirs at Formosa Primary and Greenwood Independent, and to provide guidance to the choir already established by the learners at Wittedrift High. Their passion and hard work was rewarded when on 30 May these three choirs – 110 learners in total – went up against other school choirs from the region: the two Golds and one Silver they brought home is no mean achievement!
The young and newly established Greenwood Independent choir delighted the audience, scoring 83 percent – a Silver. Since their establishment the Formosa choir has blossomed; initially these children were very reticent about performing for an audience but their outstanding performance showed just how much their confidence has grown. They scored 86 percent, Gold! And the Wittedrift High choir who also won Gold – this one 88 percent – emerged winners of the high school competition.
B10F congratulates the three choirs for their commitment, hard work and outstanding achievement. The choirs too form part of the ASAP funded by the Dietmar Hopp Foundation; more than 1037 children now participate in this programme at nine of our schools.
Until next time
Hilary, Gugu, Kim and Margi
Encouraging words indeed, there is hope for the education system in Bitou!
Source: Bitou 10 Education & Development Foundation