Week two of Ebony Park 2015 winter school started with a motivation from staff, thanking Ikamvanites for the commitment which they displayed during the first week of winter school. The second week was full of excitement and joy from both learners and tutors who managed to overcome the intense first week of winter school.
The branch partnered with organisations such as LoveLife, Capitec (Financial Literacy Training), Fujifilm and The University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Education Rights and Transformation. These organisations took over the afternoon sessions from 2pm until 4:30pm.
Love Life covered controversial issues on topics like HIV and AIDS and other tips on teenage conduct which most learners are currently facing these days. This resulted in a debate between Ikamvanites; both learners and tutors had their opinion on HIV and AIDS matters and the fact that government wants to have condoms at schools. Through these discussions, advices were given and others agreed to disagree. It was amazing to see how Ikamvanites were participating and giving valuable inputs towards these topics. Capitec gave training on financial literacy on how best to save and use your finances, this gave learners real life application of subjects like Accounting and Economics. Mr David Balwanz, a Researcher from Centre for Education Rights and Transformation at the University of Johannesburg, did a workshop on “knowing yourself”. The workshop was an eye-opener for the learners and benefited some of the tutors as it helps them know their personality. It also helps Ikamvanites to realise that each and every person has a personality and the personalities are different from one individual to another.
For the first time during winter school, Ikamvanites were visited by representatives from Fujifilm Mr Elsie Basson and Professor Raphael de Kadt to do a workshop called “photography is fun”. Ikamvanites learned that photography is a combination of Science and Technology and it also expresses pictures better than art. “For one to be a better photographer you need to travel a lot, be patient and be creative” said Mr Rafael. Ikamvanites learnt that photography is a way of seeing the world in a better view. It was an eye-opener for Ikamvanites to see photography as a career path to pursue. Ikamvanites expressed their gratitude to Fujifilm for donating memory cards to all who participated in the workshop. They also appreciated the great experience they had with Mr Basson and Mr De Kadt during the workshop and they will forever cherish the moments they had with them.
As the week was nearing to an end, Ikamvanites were preparing for a talent show and a soccer match between the tutors and learners. What kick started the day was a soccer match between the tutors and learners. The match took place at the local soccer field by the ikamva branch. Members of the community came in numbers to witness the glorious battle between the tutors and the learners. As the self-proclaimed soccer analyst Lesedi Ramushu predicted, the Tutors were victorious with the score of 2-0. The plan to maintain a friendly relationship between tutors and learners was achieved as everyone had fun till the end of the game, with a learner Sydney Phalandwa as man of the match. The reason behind the soccer match was to refresh the minds of both the tutors and learners after two weeks of intense tutoring.
Singers, Dancers, Actors and many more showcased their work as they left the audience breathless at the 2015 Ikamva talent show. A poem by Njabulo Mutle had everyone in tears as she reminded everyone about brotherly and sisterly love. Then the flood came when the dancers moved every one up-and-down to the rhythm of “Break-dancing” and “Pansula dance”. To close the Talent show there was a spectacular performance by a group of dancers who left the audience in a celebrating mood.
“This Year’s winter school left everyone wishing they can go back in time not change anything just to have the feeling of unity, teamwork and excellence all over again” said Welsh Dube (Head of Tutoring).
A closing speech was given by staff members to show their gratefulness to tutors and learners for a job well done.
Thanks to everyone who supported Ebony Park 2015 winter school!!
The Year Beyond programme has just had its very first successful winter school for 300 learners run by a group of 36 highly motivated volunteers. Winter school is a way of introducing our young learners to a wider world of opportunity through targeted career advice and mentoring activities, supplementary tutoring, excursions and workshops, and through career speakers offering advice and support to enable the learners to access tertiary education and employment.
Our winter schools were held at Phoenix, Manyano, ID Mkhize, and Oval North High Schools. We were hosted with warmth and the learners thoroughly enjoyed the experience. With the learners having never been to an established winter school programme, the experience unlocked their eyes and minds to a new sphere of possibilities.
Winter Schools are not like the daily routine of a normal school day, instead it’s about intensive tutoring and different workshops focussed on equipping the students with a sense of independence as well as ensuring that they leave with the confidence and understanding in mind, knowing that it starts with self. The activities and workshops were aligned with the intention of developing our learner’s leadership skills, level of awareness, valuing self and importantly raising awareness of the social issues affecting youth and the preventative actions that are available to them.
Tutoring
The core component of Year Beyond winter school is the academic content. Learners received 2 hour intensive tutoring sessions with a variety of tutoring resources including; past papers, mock exams and Answer Series study guides, English (Fundza) and Math (Olico) Fundamentals.
Workshops
In addition to the academic emphasis, the winter school provided an opportunity for a number of workshops around themes relating to general life-skills, HIV/Aids awareness, filmmaking and personal presentation skills. Learners were also exposed to information helpful to choosing subjects when they start grade 10.
The varied workshops included; Peers in Sexual Health running workshops about teenage pregnancy / STIs/ HIV information and training through experiential games and role plays; UCT Health Faculty who ran TB awareness and movie screening for health awareness; a workshop from Live Magazine on how to build a newsletter and magazine, while Rae Human and partners gave a presentation from the Film and Publication Board covering topics like cyber safety, the film industry and the Board as national regulator that were geared towards enlightening learners to the dangers of the media landscape. Students filmed their own short documentary through crash courses in sound, lighting and directing. UCT Humanities Faculty ran subject choice workshops and requirements to access post school institutions, and many learners went on an excursion to the Jewish Museum which aimed to create an understanding, gain knowledge and an appreciation of religious and cultural diversity within our society, and to respect the dignity, rights and values of people from different religions and cultures.
Combination of Schools
As the old adage goes; two hands are better than one and combining two schools per cluster was the winning idea. Manyano high school combined with Intlanganiso high school at Manyano and Tafelsig combined with Oval North at Oval North High. Additionally, Phoenix combined with Heideveld at Phoenix and ID Mkhize combined with Leiden high at ID Mkhize high school. At this point it’s where we could see the excitement on learners’ face when they were introduced to their peers from different schools. Peer to peer support was the tool that was used by tutors to ensure learners supported one another, but also in building a culture of hard work and being responsible to and for each other.
A huge thanks to all the workshop facilitators, tutors and learners – Your passion, commitment, excitement and leadership shown over this time has started to set a precedent in the schools, instilling a culture of hard work and belief in the possibility of a bright and beautiful future!
The 2013 IkamvaYouth Annual Report highlights the remarkable achievements that we have made in 2013 by enabling disadvantaged youth to pull themselves and each other out of poverty with education.You can view the full annual report here but here are some of the highlights from 2013:
- 92% of our learners passed their matric (including supplementary exams); 62% achieved a bachelor pass (compared to 30.6% nationally) and 90% of our learners accessed a post school opportunity (tertiary, learnership or employment);
- The first survey of IkamvaYouth’s alumni was conducted. The findings were more encouraging than we could have hoped: IkamvaYouth learners are almost half as likely to drop out of tertiary studies, four times more likely to graduate and are three times less likely to not be in education or employment than the average South African young person.
- IkamvaYouth WON the Stars Award which exists to reward outstanding local organisations improving the lives of children in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. IkamvaYouth WON in the category of Education in Africa and the Middle East.
Thank you for taking the future into your hands, and to holding ours. Let’s keep reaching for the stars together.
©Neo Ntsoma/Majority World
If you are having trouble with the link please click on the below link:
ikamvayouth_annual_report_2013.pdf
Ikamva youth winter school talent show 2014
“Appreciation can make a day even change a life and a tiny drop of chemical makes an enormous difference.” Unknown
IY believes in making learning fun and providing a friendly environment of learning. We acknowledge that in order for the youth to excel at school, they also need to lead balanced lives in order to function well. Thus we give learners a platform to show case and embrace their artistic skills and talents during the annual winter school programme.
This year it was no exception, the Winter School’s Talent Show was filled with talented presentations in genres ranging from dance, singing, acapella & beat box, poetry, rap, drama to a mix of all these. The acts were both entertaining and educational as they covered themes such as teenage pregnancy, alcohol and drug abuse, rape, issues of sexuality & making informed choices and motivation. These were presented with all sorts of props such as face paints and furnitures. The show was well received, and Ikamvanites were excited about this opportunity. Mr Sipho Dee, from the branch’s sponsor- ABI, was also part of the audience.
The tutors also participated by assisting the leaners choreography and to put these acts together. The panel of judges consisted of tutors and were evaluated the acts based on originality, choice of act, presentation, talent, appropriate costume, audience reception and entertainment value. The participants were awarded for best performed act, best dance performance, best male singer, best female singer and best spoken word (poetry and rap genre) performance.
Following the success of the matric camp in 2013, the WC team ran the second annual matric camp following directly on after the two weeks of winter school in July. This year saw 85 matrics from the Western Cape branches as well as from the Eastern Cape get together for a week getaway at the Rotary Glencairn camp site, for 5 days of intensive tutoring, academic workshops and exam practice.
The first day saw all the learners arriving at the site and participating energetic team-building exercises to help break the ice as learners started interacting more freely across the branches, working collectively to earn points for their various teams. True to ikamvanite culture, tutoring started in earnest from day one and the learners spent the rest of the afternoon working through past exam papers and Answer Series guides.
Throughout the camp learners have all managed to take part in a variety of activities aimed at preparing them for their final exams and tertiary studies. From intensive tutoring and exam practice to workshops around how to study effectively and evening self study times.
While the camp is a serious study boot camp, with tutoring happening from early in the morning until late into the night, the learners found the time to energise themselves through the terrible weather with an impromptu talent show where learners mixed things up between branches for an evening of singing, dancing, stand up comedy and drama. I’m convinced the next MC Solaar is in this group!
Sixolisiwe sibebosi , a volunteer said the following: ‘The matric camp was very productive to me. Firstly everything was well prepared, the kids were hungry to learn something and that gave me a lot of courage and it motivated me to make sure that I give all and make a change. IkamvaYouth changed my life and I also passed my matric because of IkamvaYouth and matric camp so it was a minor thing for me tor do, I wish I could do more.’
Bonke Sibunzana, a learner from Masi said the following, ‘what I liked about matric camp was how committed the tutors were. They encouraged us to use the tutoring time wisely. I also like how united we were as ikamvanites. We showed love and support for each other ‘, while Nobulali Swaartbooi from Nyanga said ‘Matric camp was a great experience. It was great learning with people from different schools and coming together with all our different ideas.’
This strongly echoes IY’s value of peer-to-peer sharing and IY is excited to witness the fruit of the Matric camp as the learners write their mock exams in September and final exams in November.
A very special thank you to Pick’n Pay Fish Hoek, for generously supplying camp catering, and ensuring that all our learners, volunteers and staff are well fed every day of the camp; Rotary for their beautiful camp sites and ERM for the donation of solar lamps for all our matric learners. This gives out learners going into their final exams the opportunity to study at home in the evenings, thanks ERM!
Good luck for the final exams IY 2014 Matric Class!
The Ebony Park Branch hosted one of the best winter schools ever this year! With a cohort of 190 learners, the branch was a hub of excitement right from the first day. Our tutors did not disappoint as they came through with such motivation and determination to usher in the education revolution that our communities are in real need of.
On the first day, the 30th of June, we were proud to have one of our greatest role models, Khetha Dlamini as our guest speaker. All learners with 100% attendance in term 2 were awarded with special prizes and tutoring went underway straight after the opening ceremony. Tutoring was done differently this year as we decided to map out a programme of subjects that will be done throughout the 10 days. This was in an effort to make sure the learners cover all their subjects.
The branch partnered with organisations such as LoveLife and Extreme arts and these organisation took over the afternoon sessions until 4pm. LoveLife equipped the learners with HIV/AIDS knowledge whilst Extreme Arts helped the learners explore their artistic talents. There was also a debate club led by our committed volunteers that helped learners with knowledge on what debate is and how they can be good debaters.
The Foundation for Professional Development came through to conduct HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis testing on the 2nd of July and this gave the learners an opportunity to be responsible for their own health. The week got better and better, with Tzu Chi Foundation, coming through to donate rice and stationery to our learners.
On the 11th of July,our last day of tutoring, ABI hosted all our learners at their plant in Clayville. The learners enjoyed this excursion so much that they did not want to leave the ABI premises. Many young minds were inspired and many dreams took a giant leap towards their fulfillment. The most exciting thing is that our winter school can now be seen on a youtube channel (here) created by our media team.
Thanks to everyone who supported us!
Lloyd Lungu