Education South Africa Project #21813

Education Programmes for Kids &Teachers, Cape Town

by Children's Helpers Worldwide

Project Report | Dec 6, 2023
Thank you for supporting children in Cape Town with their education!

By Catherine Franks | Founder of Children's Helpers Worldwide

Rooikappie Educare visiting ORT SA CAPE

Everyone at Children's Helpers Worldwide wants to thank you for supporting the food and education programmes run by our partner organisation in South Africa, ORT SA CAPE. Your kindness is making a big difference for the children in Cape Town.

Thank you to all who supported this project during the recent campaign for #GivingTuesday.

Below is an update from Bev at ORT SA CAPE, on the impact of your generosity. As you will see there are many types of training programmes for teachers, educators and principals, which will enable the children to receive a higher quality of education in the classroom.

Bev's update also mentions a workshop for the children at Rooikappie Educare. CHW was introduced to Rooikappie by another of our South African partner organisations, The Future Factory. We then made the link between Rooikappie and ORT SA CAPE and we are delighted that CHW's supporters have contributed towards various workshops for Rooikappie, held by ORT SA CAPE! Rooikappie's Principal, Faranaaz, has expressed her gratitude to all who made the workshops possible.

Here is the update from Bev:

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"Since our previous report, the generous donations received [from CHW's supporters] continue to be allocated towards expanding our teacher training programmes.

As mentioned previously, we have focused strongly on collaborations in 2023, working with like- minded organisation on various projects. We recently partnered with Think Equal. Think Equal is UK based and is a global initiative which calls for a system change in education, to end the discriminatory mindset and the cycle of violence across our world and ensure positive life outcomes for our children.

Together with world experts, Think Equal has designed a programme to teach social and emotional learning to early years (3-6-year-olds). ORT SA CAPE is working with them on a pilot project in 104 ECD [Early Childhood Development] centres in the Western Cape. We are hoping to extend this to many more centres next year and are actively looking for funding opportunities to realise this.

Teachers and ECD practitioners continue to benefit from our various short courses. By the end of 2023 we would have trained 2,920 teachers across our various short courses reaching over 87,000 pupils.

Some of your donations were allocated to two of our Lego Learning through Play workshops held in November. A total of 50 teachers attended these 3-hour workshops. The training introduces LEGO Play Box as a versatile and interactive resource that lends itself to teaching a range of skills through fun activities, promoting learning through play.

Teachers participate in several practical activities that cover perceptual skills, as well as emergent literacy and numeracy.

The following are key topics covered in the course:

What playful learning entails and how it benefits children.
How Play Box promotes playful learning and can therefore play a vital role in the development of young brains.
How Playbox can promote development of a diverse range of skills, including fine and gross motor skills, perceptual skills and teamwork.
How Play Box elements are important concrete tools in classrooms.
How Play Box can be an important tool to address learning barriers.

Teachers receive a Lego Playbox, donated by The Lego Foundation for use in their classroom.

This year we also piloted a ''Principals Networking Event''. The Principals' Networking Session was born out of the need for ECD Principals to be supported in their own professional development, and to have a place to celebrate their successes and work through their common struggles. We recognise that ECD Principals needed a safe space to learn and share and we have provided this platform for them. They meet every 2 to 3 months where we host a networking event aimed at exposing them to various topics of interest and allowing them time to learn from each other.

Professional development sessions included workshops on:

Gender Based Violence and the procedures to follow should support be needed.
Mindfulness and self-care.
Running a successful ECD centre.

On Friday 24th November, 25 children from Rooikappie Educare attended an outing to The Cape Town Science Centre and ORT SA CAPE. The children enjoyed a fun Lego workshop and enjoyed the exhibits in the Science Centre. They ended off their outing with a delicious lunch and ORT donated various stationary items to the school. Through CHW, we have a long-standing relationship with Rooikappie, and offer them support in various ways. Some of your donations were allocated to the Rooikappie outing to cover transport and lunch for the children and staff.

In the spirit of collaboration, we also partnered with Learn to Live on a Parent Project that they run in partnership with ECD centres that they support. ORT SA CAPE supplied Lego Six Bricks and parent booklets as well as training to their staff on how to use the resources. They in turn ran various workshops, empowering parents on how to connect and interact with their children. Parents were given sets of Lego Six Bricks to take home for use with their children. Some of your donations were allocated to this programme.

The generous donations received from CHW this year allows us to sustain our current projects as well as expand our reach to more teachers and children. Your ongoing commitment will ensure we are able to strengthen communities and change lives through education."

At a "Lego Learning through Play" workshop

At a Principals' Networking Session

Children from Rooikappie during their visit

Rooikappie's visit to ORT SA CAPE & Science Centre

At a "Learn to Live" parent project session

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