Hi lovely GAGA supporters!
We've been back to school today, visiting First Step Right, a creche and primary school and Number Nine a preschool!
We were thrilled to spend a lot of time with Gael and the teachers and pupils of First Step Right School today. Gael gave us a comprehensive tour of the facilities and we learned first hand of some of the challenges of delivering an inspirational education and pastoral care to 187 pupils ranging from 4 years to 9 years of age. Such is the demand this school year, that Gael has two classes in Grade R and two classes in Grade 1! We have some lovely video footage of the Grade 4's and 5's playing sport - watch out for this on our Facebook page in the coming weeks. We were delighted to hand over several copies of "James and the Giant Peach" to Grade 4 and you can see, they were delighted to receive them! Claire joined a Grade 1 class in their numeracy lesson and saw how well they understood their Even and Odd numbers and could recite them beautifully as well as write them down so neatly. Sarah sat in with Grade 2 and was impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of the class. Grade 5 were so happy to see the book that they had co-written with their preceding Grade 5 class, finally in print and several copies were covered in laminate and will be a super addition to the lovely library at FSR.
Just after morning break, we popped out to make a quick visit to Number Nine, a lovely creche & preschool accommodating 27 pupils. The children range from babies to age 5 and they have a lovely, caring environment. The super veggie garden supplements the food budget and we arrived just in time to smell the delicious aroma of a chicken and squash stew that was being prepared for lunch! Just like FSR, Number 9 has it's challenges to face, especially with the maintenance of basic facilities like toilets and the fabric of the building - both have issues with their roofs and it is so difficult to manage the demands of property maintenance with funding for educational and pastoral care of the pupils.
We returned to FSR in time for their lunch break and saw how nicely each class sat under the shade of the trees in the grounds, under the watchful eye of their teacher, whilst they ate their lunch. FSR currently provides a cold sandwich lunch or a porridge, as there are no facilities for a hot main meal.
After lunch the children rush to wash their hands before returning to the classroom and for the little ones in the creche, it is nap time whilst the older pupils continue their lessons. Each class has a designated library day and they all line up to return the book they borrowed the previous week and collect a new one for the week ahead. After school, whilst the pupils were waiting for their transport to arrive Sarah sat with some of the pupils to read all about a funny octopus whilst Claire discussed a football book with one of the older boys and was grateful for her knowledge of some of the players - thanks to her own sons interest in the game! To pass the time we had several rounds of "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" which the children enjoyed immensely and had some fun taking photos of them wearing a mask one had made in his class!
After school we met one of our students and heard all about her ambition to become a qualified Chartered Accountant. She is a determined young woman and is studying her Bachelor of Accounting Sciences in Financial Accounting with UNISA (University of South Africa). She has successfully passed her first and second level and now embarks upon the third and final level. All of this study is in addition to working a 12 hour shift pattern of 4 days of days, 4 days of nights and 4 days off! A truly punishing schedule. She is a fine example of the Sangobeg scholars we are proud to support, her ambition and commitment is admirable and we wish her every success in this next stage of her studies.
The next meeting was with the organisation who own the land and building that FSR occupies, we had a very productive meeting and look forward to working alongside this company to support the aims of the school.
Finally Claire and Sarah dropped Gael home and popped to the supermarket where our favourite parking guard, Keith, guided the backie into an impossibly tight space! In his honour, we have christened the backie "Keith" and Claire has committed to practicing her reverse parking technique this weekend!
Another fabulous day in SA! Check in tomorrow for more updates & please look at First Step Right's Facebook page for more information about the school and lovely stories of the activities and achievements of the children. Follow this link First Step Right
G'night!
We've been back to school today, visiting First Step Right, a creche and primary school and Number Nine a preschool!
We were thrilled to spend a lot of time with Gael and the teachers and pupils of First Step Right School today. Gael gave us a comprehensive tour of the facilities and we learned first hand of some of the challenges of delivering an inspirational education and pastoral care to 187 pupils ranging from 4 years to 9 years of age. Such is the demand this school year, that Gael has two classes in Grade R and two classes in Grade 1! We have some lovely video footage of the Grade 4's and 5's playing sport - watch out for this on our Facebook page in the coming weeks. We were delighted to hand over several copies of "James and the Giant Peach" to Grade 4 and you can see, they were delighted to receive them! Claire joined a Grade 1 class in their numeracy lesson and saw how well they understood their Even and Odd numbers and could recite them beautifully as well as write them down so neatly. Sarah sat in with Grade 2 and was impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of the class. Grade 5 were so happy to see the book that they had co-written with their preceding Grade 5 class, finally in print and several copies were covered in laminate and will be a super addition to the lovely library at FSR. 
Just after morning break, we popped out to make a quick visit to Number Nine, a lovely creche & preschool accommodating 27 pupils. The children range from babies to age 5 and they have a lovely, caring environment. The super veggie garden supplements the food budget and we arrived just in time to smell the delicious aroma of a chicken and squash stew that was being prepared for lunch! Just like FSR, Number 9 has it's challenges to face, especially with the maintenance of basic facilities like toilets and the fabric of the building - both have issues with their roofs and it is so difficult to manage the demands of property maintenance with funding for educational and pastoral care of the pupils.We returned to FSR in time for their lunch break and saw how nicely each class sat under the shade of the trees in the grounds, under the watchful eye of their teacher, whilst they ate their lunch. FSR currently provides a cold sandwich lunch or a porridge, as there are no facilities for a hot main meal.
After lunch the children rush to wash their hands before returning to the classroom and for the little ones in the creche, it is nap time whilst the older pupils continue their lessons. Each class has a designated library day and they all line up to return the book they borrowed the previous week and collect a new one for the week ahead. After school, whilst the pupils were waiting for their transport to arrive Sarah sat with some of the pupils to read all about a funny octopus whilst Claire discussed a football book with one of the older boys and was grateful for her knowledge of some of the players - thanks to her own sons interest in the game! To pass the time we had several rounds of "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" which the children enjoyed immensely and had some fun taking photos of them wearing a mask one had made in his class!
After school we met one of our students and heard all about her ambition to become a qualified Chartered Accountant. She is a determined young woman and is studying her Bachelor of Accounting Sciences in Financial Accounting with UNISA (University of South Africa). She has successfully passed her first and second level and now embarks upon the third and final level. All of this study is in addition to working a 12 hour shift pattern of 4 days of days, 4 days of nights and 4 days off! A truly punishing schedule. She is a fine example of the Sangobeg scholars we are proud to support, her ambition and commitment is admirable and we wish her every success in this next stage of her studies.
The next meeting was with the organisation who own the land and building that FSR occupies, we had a very productive meeting and look forward to working alongside this company to support the aims of the school.
Finally Claire and Sarah dropped Gael home and popped to the supermarket where our favourite parking guard, Keith, guided the backie into an impossibly tight space! In his honour, we have christened the backie "Keith" and Claire has committed to practicing her reverse parking technique this weekend!
Another fabulous day in SA! Check in tomorrow for more updates & please look at First Step Right's Facebook page for more information about the school and lovely stories of the activities and achievements of the children. Follow this link First Step Right
G'night!
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