By Harrison Dax Nash | Charity Director / Project Leader
It can be seen as positive to look at the comments of President Cyril Ramaphosa who is aiming to mobilize the nation behind a reading campaign and wants every 10 year old to read for meaning in the next decade. At the State of the Nation Address he highlighted early reading as a basic foundation of educational progress. He has also announced training for teachers specifically in this area.
At our youth centre we feel that reading is also especially important and we have a reading club that runs using English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans languages – tailored to the ability levels of the children with a view of making reading FUN and ensuring that no child is left behind. We are members of the local Walmer Library where our children also attend their holiday programmes.
We were able to have 10 psychometric evaluations undertaken in this recent period. This feedback is so important because on a daily basis we give small group homework tuition and study guidance and we use the recommendations from this report in doing our individual educational plans for each child. Each child at the centre has an individual development plan which this is incorporated as part of - this is a requirement of the SA Children's Act 2005.
As has been highlighted in our previous reports we have extended our services to include children as young as 3 years old. It is here that Early Childhood Development plays such a big role so we also train our own child & youth care workers in rendering effective services and activities for those in care. Of course this is where it is important to highlight how a child develops 85% of their core brain structure by the time they are 5 years old – a cornerstone that will be built upon for the rest of their lives.
Funds from this project helps ensure our younger children are enrolled for pre-primary education which UNCIEF recently released a report to say helps prevents repeat grades/drop-outs and leads children to contribute meaningfully to economies and societies in adulthood – we are fortunate that South Africa aims to universalize Grade R for all at this stage and is part of the CAPS curriculum, but of course we need funds available to be able to help children access schooling and currently we really are facing a financial crisis at the organisation. At this stage any donation will make a big difference for us!
I wanted to ensure you know some of the inner-workings of our daily programme and intervention with the children residentially because the success of a programme depends on making sure the children receive effective stimulation and development from educational providers as much as they do in their own life space. Thanks for the support!
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