As we moved into the final term of the year, as a team, we looked back on what our drams for this year were. We were so encouraged to reflect on our year dreams and goals and see that many of them we had achieved and were still running them successfully.
2017 Dreams
– Have regular small group devotions which will create the opportunity to build relationships with the kids and get to know them.
– Ed Support workers will continue with team training and individual skills development.
– Build stronger links with parents.
– Focus on developing reading skills and cultivate a love for reading.
– Develop a method to monitor the impact of Education Support.
At the beginning of the year we began new devotion groups which meet together every day for 10 minutes before home time; a small groups kids with the same leader chat, read the bible and pray together before heading home. These groups have led to fun Holiday Hangouts each holiday and the development of some great relationships and an openness in conversations. The relationships in these groups have allowed us to expand the emotional and spiritual support given and conversations here have often been the trigger to specific support being offered when necessary.
Our team this year have worked hard at developing their own teaching and leading skills. All of our team this year have completed regular teaching training sessions and been able to put into practice the different ideas and teaching strategies they have been learning. One of our team Thully has been completing her Foundation Phase teaching diploma this year and Sindi has been completing her second year Bachelors of Education degree.
This year we have run Parent’s Mornings, met with parents and support parents with their children’s education in their homes too. Parents know that they have an open relationship to approach us for support and advice whenever it is needed.
Reading has been a big focus this year and we have seen our kids grow in their love of reading; their enjoyment of books and their reading skills. We have had various book donations throughout the year which has enabled us to grow our reading programme and use books in lots of different ways.
We have not yet developed a specific tool for measuring impact but we have seen the impact of Ed Support in many mnay children and families this year. We have been encouraged that Ed Support is impactful through stories, feedback from teachers, the development of children, school reports and the regularity with which children attend.
Seeing as we are not yet at the end of the year we are excited to see how these dreams continue to grow in the last couple of months of the year.
One of our Friday activities this year has been a drama group. The drama group gives a small group of kids each term the opportunity to grow their acting interest, learn new communication skills and grow their confidence of speaking in front of others. We have seen some great drama plays at the end of each term which have been thoroughly enjoyed by the children watching.
This month we were treated to performances from a local drama group from Howick. They joined our drama session one Friday afternoon, giving us some tips on acting and performing in front of people. To finish they then treated us to a number of short drama skits all linked to God’s love and how we can live our lives sharing his love.
The kids loved the opportunity to watch ‘professional’ actors and enjoyed the time developing their skills.
In September Sindi and other Ethembeni staff members attended a training course called Godly Play which equipped them to use play to tell stories, teach lifestyles and share the gospel. They were very excited about what they learnt on the course and have begun implementing story-telling techniques they learnt in Education Support. Sindi has been guiding other ES workers and working with them and children to create lots of story-telling resources which are used to communicate the gospel and many other topics in some very creative and imaginative ways. The children love being involved in the process of the stories from the beginning of the ideas and creating the tools, to hearing the seeing the final story being shared with others.
The month of October brings with it some very hot weather and the looming dread (for some) of exams. We have been encouraged by the amount of children this year who have been attending our topic revisions and exam preparation sessions which aim to equip the kids with the necessary exam skills and practice. All of our kids have been working extremely hard to prepare for their exams and the whole team in Education Support are extremely proud of their achievements this year.
Please pray for our kids as they starting writing their exams; some of them look to changing schools and starting high school (scary and exciting) and our Grade 12’s look at life after school and hopefully university!
Lessons. Experiences. Life. 