SOS Schools in South Africa
SOS Nursery School Cape Town
The past year saw 82 children being accommodated at the nursery school. Sixty one children are from the immediate community and Eighteen from SOS Children’s Village Cape Town and three children are from our Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) in Langa. Fifty seven children attend our aftercare services.
Eight of our SOS Nursery School learners attend Occupational Therapy sessions on a Wednesday to receive support regarding the challenges they face. The SOS Nursery School hosted a workshop during the month of May for SOS Moms to connect, build relationships and discuss expectations between the SOS Moms and the nursery school.
The learners are developing swimming and water safety skills. They attend weekly swimming sessions on a Tuesday. A successful Village Education Programmes was held on 28 February and it took the form of a creative activities programme. Four Langa Teacher Training Sessions, one in each quarter, took place during the year with on average fifteen teachers present.
SOS Nursery School Ennerdale
Seventy five learners were enrolled at the nursery school at Ennerdale, northern South Africa for 2008. Forty two of these learners came from our FSP.
The resignation of two members had a impact on both learners and staff members.
One of the village sponsors, Cummins Diesel visited the nursery school with some of their international workers in February. During the visit they supported the programme by painting the play equipment and arranged new soil for the sandpits.
The first parents’ meeting was held early in February with many parents attending. A very successful annual sports day was held with the local crèches on the 15 March 2008. Parents have taken ownership of the event and assisted the nursery school staff with preparations.
The learners were sent on a number of excursions during the 2008 year. The pre-school groups visited the local library; celebrated Aids Awareness Day; and went out to Rietvlei Farm. SOS Nursery School Ennerdale students rendered cultural items at the Annual Village Celebration and the SOS Luncheon. The annual concert and graduation was held on the 28 November 2008. This was a very special occasion and all the five year olds graduated and are ready to attend primary school next year.
SOS Nursery School Mamelodi
Our nursery school at Mamelodi operated on full capacity since March this year. Sixty percent of the children in our nursery school were non–fee paying.
The nursery school had three trips for the children this year though we planned for four, due to increase in petrol and diesel prices we could not accommodate all the planned trips.
SOS Nursery School Mthatha
Our SOS Nursery School has a capacity of 125 and we started the year with 96 pupils and closed the year with 89. The decrease in number was due to family relocation.
The continued support we gave to the four Educare centres around Mthatha increased our satisfaction in helping others. We supported them with training and teaching Aids, we helped Omega pre-school acquire land for the building of their pre school play areas.
We successfully took our nursery school learners to East London on an educational outing, through the financial assistance of Rhino Cash and carry in Mthatha.
SOS Prim
ary School Mthatha
The SOS Primary School opened in 1999. There are 410 pupils in 14 classes. Nearly a third of pupils form the local community have scholarships
The SOS School also runs computer classes, home economics and art classes for the local community. The computer class of 35 pupils only has 28 computers with plans to buy another seven.
SOS Nursery School Nelspruit
The biggest challenge faced throughout the year has been the migration of parents from Kamagugu which has resulted in a drop in enrolment numbers at the nursery school.
On the 22 November 2008 the nursery school held a successful graduation party which saw 14 Grade R’s leaving the school. Amongst them, Percy and Musa are the two boys from the village and the rest from the community to start their primary schooling.
SOS Nursery School Pietermaritzburg
Our nursery school at Pietermaritzburg has done well this year under the leadership of an Acting Principal, Ms Phili Nene. Despite challenges faced, learners have been the number one priority in the programmes, and they have made commendable progress this year.
Workshops were conducted on a quarterly basis, with teachers from adopted crèches to keep teachers abreast with current developments in Education. Our nursery school teachers started embarking on their Bachelor of Education (B Ed.) course this year and they all passed their first year courses.
Due to some parents relocating to other places, our nursery school numbers dropped from 87 to 81. Under the leadership of the newly appointed Nursery School Principal, who is expected to join the organisation in January 2009, we hope that the nursery school will go an extra mile.
SOS Nursery School Port Elizabeth
This is mostly attributed to the fact that most primary schools in the community have opened Grade-R classes which are often free of charge. Furthermore, many schools require Grade 1 learners to have attended the Grade R year at the same school. This has severely impacted on the market of paid pre-school education, and during 2009 the SOS Nursery School will embark on a more ambitious marketing strategy in order to attract learners.
A new movement and learning programme was introduced this year, namely Monkeynastix. This is a very popular programme and was welcomed by the parents of learners.
The staff and learners went on educational outings to farms, pools, parks, other local crèches and the fire department during the year. Various other programmes also took place at the nursery school, such as a water fun day, puppet shows, educational theme productions, individual photos of children, celebrations and workshops.
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