On the 26th of November 2016 Masi branch hosted the year end prizegiving ceremony at Masiphumelele Library. On this day the Masi branch was honouring all the hard work done by the learners and tutors and also acknowledging our partners. Sanelisiwe and Sandisiwe Ndzuzo, both in Grade 9, were the MCs of the day and started the event on very high note with lots of energy, excitement and enthusiasm.
The prizegiving categories were, Learner of the year voted by other learners; Most Improved, Outstanding Academic Achievement, Best Attendance, Learner Involvement and Certificate of Participation for Volunteers.
Thulisa Mayekiso briefly explained the Nal’ibali programme for the Grade 9 and 10s before handing out certificates and prizes for the Book Club. The event was a success, the parents, learners and tutors were really excited and celebrating all the achievements done by the Masinites.
The Masi Branch especially thanks the Masiphumelele Public Library staff for their constant support and in-kind donations ; Capitec Bank, State Street Southern Africa and Cognia Law for their financial support as well as providing some mentors for the Matriculants. Thank you to Pick n’ Pay Fish Hoek Family Store for always generously donating food during Winter School and all other special events.
About our workshops
The first session was a parents meeting which ran from 10h00am until 11h30am. The induction is tailored to inform parents on the learners matriculation prospects and providing progress reports on Ikamvanites attending our after-school tutoring classes. It is refreshing to see parents taking initiative by showing interest in their children’s academic progress and the work that we do.
The second session was our grade 11 workshop that ran from 11h35 to 13h30pm. See the picture below of our Ikamvanites, fully dressed in their designated school uniforms.
What The Grade 11 Induction Workshop Entails?
This induction workshop introduced both our current grade 11 Ikamvanites and parents to the structure of our tutoring and mentoring programmes for 2017. The workshop specifically focused on setting expectations, the procedures, practices and requirements for the programme.
Also covered in both workshops were the differences between the three pass levels namely: the Higher Certificate, Diploma and Bachelors Degree (which was previously known as an exemption). This was covered by Ntombi Mahlangu, the Kuyasa Programme Coordinator. The induction process included the pass requirements for each of these levels; the prerequisites for tertiary enrolment; what is meant by conditional acceptance and what to do in order to satisfy the requirements for full admission at certain tertiary institutions. Furthermore during the session with the learners, they were taught to calculate for themselves their matric pass type using mock academic reports so they could be aware of their term 3 pass status. For your interest, click here for the matric pass type calculator.
The induction programme was well received by both parents and learners. They remarked that it did not only provide both parents and Ikamvanites with crucial information about the learners’ next step as matriculants, but it also enabled Ikamvanites to become more positively aligned with their personal goals.
We are proud of all Kuyasa Ikamvanites! Through their constant effort they have managed to maintain outstanding academic performance.
We are looking forward to seeing many of our amazing parents again in 2017!
The vibrant State Street mentors have shown that an essential first step in a successful mentoring program is for both the mentor and mentee to identify, define, and honestly articulate their common and individual goals and motivations. On the afternoon of the 28th of September 2016, the Masiphumelele matriculants attended their closing session with their mentors. The learners were ready and very excited to catch up with their mentors especially since we’re getting closer to the deadline for tertiary applications and exams!
Thato Kola (State Street Mentoring organiser) and Nathan (State Street vice Director) gave some motivational words to learners, before they paired up with their mentors for their final session. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the State Street mentors and their team for knowledge and wisdom they have imparted upon IY learners. It has been a great help and support throughout the year. I believe success for our matriculants is at least in part due to the sincere support and mentorship provided by State Street.
Five of the grade 11 learners from Kuyasa branch, Nandipha Mnani, Khanya Mabeke and Bongile Mfikili, represented Siphamandla Senior Secondary School to take part in the annual school mathematics challenge. This year, our learners got a chance to compete with a number of 65 schools from various areas in Western Cape, as well as compete under immense pressure. We are proud to announce that Ikamvanites secured the 6th place in the competition. We are ecstatic of their achievement.
Above Photo: The Sphamandla Secondary School Learners
During the same day, two of our Ikamvanites, Ntomboxolo Kraqa and Vuyisanani Mkhize, were part of selected 25 top achieving learners. The selection was from 2 high schools in Khayelitsha recognizing the academic excellence of the learners. Their hard work was rewarded with a restful weekend getaway at a 5 star hotel in Newlands to celebrate their success.
Photo Above: Vuyisanani (Left) and Ntomboxolo (Right)
We would like to thank IkamvaYouth volunteers who spent time after school to help prepare these diverse learners to improve academic achievement across ability levels and content areas.
We are very proud of the Ikamvanites as well as the rest of the selected learners.
You have all done IkamvaYouth proud!
It is week 7 of tutoring, we are sitting in our Atlantis office and thinking, “we have come this far!” Of course, we still have a long way to go but if you think of the time when we first introduced IkamvaYouth to the community of Atlantis in June, presenting to schools and community forums, we had no idea how things would pan out as much as we had tried to plan for everything.
Tutor Orientation/Training 23 July
6-7 weeks ago on the 23rd of July 2016, IY Atlantis held its first tutor training/orientation day at IkamvaHouse in Salt River. This was the first time that the Atlantis superheroes met and they immediately hit it off! The Community Collaboration Department were the head facilitators for the day, Zoe Mann & Pepe Hendricks, and they hosted the training for the first time IkamvaYouth tutors. The tutoring methodology/pedagogy was the main topic of the day but the Superheroes also had a chance to be introduced to the history, vision & mission, values and the IkamvaYouth Model.
Andile Miya, a final year law student from UWC said, “I had no idea, how much detail goes into tutoring. Especially having to balance transferring information without coming across like a teacher and using the right questioning.” After a whole 5 hour training/orientation, the Superheroes were confident to go and begin tutoring the Atlantis Ikamvanites.
IkamvaYouth Atlantis Orientation Day
The day we had been waiting for had arrived, kickoff time! Saturday morning, 10am; it was a lovely sunny day in Atlantis and the Proteus Secondary School Hall was filling up with curious parents and eager learners, ready to hear about the branch.
Mr Smith, a science teacher at Proteus Secondary School, welcomed all who were in attendance and urged the parents to hear out what IkamvaYouth had to say. Simone Peinke, our Western Cape District Coordinator, kicked off the programme by sharing a bit of background about IkamvaYouth. Yanga Totyi, the Atlantis Branch Coordinator, talked about the programmes IkamvaYouth offers emphasing the core of the programme which is Tutoring as well as covering the Career guidance and Mentoring aspects of the programme.
The audience was then engaged on what the factors they had in mind that will make the programme a success. One of the parents mentioned that commitment from the learner, the parents and IkamvaYouth will make a big contribution, the community is one filled with challenges but all stakeholders should unite in the spirit of making this work! Afterwards, the parents had a chance to sign a pledge poster which will serve as a reminder that WE WILL MAKE IKAMVAYOUTH ATLANTIS WORK!
First Week Of Tutoring
First time Ikamvanites gathered at Proteus High School, eager and ready to begin with this much anticipated programme. Andile Miya, Chante van der Merwe, Namhla Kantolo, Phathiswa Silwana had their capes on, ready to begin with the agenda for the week and finally, it all began.
This is what a few Ikamvanites had to say;
“We hope that IkamvaYouth can help us learn how to learn. We are happy that this programme came to our community and we are ready to work hard to make sure that we do better in our studies.”
– Clyde Muller, Grade 10 Proteus Secondary School Learner
“If you look at our community, our peers are joining gangs and participating in a lot of bad activities. I could be there with them but I chose my education first and that is why I joined IkamvaYouth. We want IkamvaYouth to help us become something one day!”
– Marlin Cupido, Grade 11 Proteus Secondary School Learner
“It is such a cool thing interacting and learning with learners from a different school. We get to share the different explanations we get in class and explaining to one another makes it easier to remember the work.”
– Amber Donson, Grade 11 Atlantis Secondary School Learner
Despite the branch being far from Cape Town, superheroes came to make sure these learners get help. Nerves & excitement are to be expected in the beginning of something new and through all of that, Ikamvanites made it through week one and they were encouraged more than ever to make it work!
Today…
It’s week 7 and here we are again, ready to begin with another week of tutoring. We look forward to what the week brings and we also look forward to the very first parent meeting on Saturday.
Really the Ikamvanites are MAKING IT WORK!
On Saturday, 27th August 2016, we received a surprise visit from one of our Accounting tutors, Nosipho Mjiyakho who works for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). This was not just an ordinary visit, Nosipho was sent by PwC to drop off stationery for all our learners at the branch. This was really exciting news for us as we know that our learners are in need of stationery so we were also excited as staff to share the news with the learners.
The stationery donation included exercise books, flip files, exam pads, pens, rulers, erasers, pencils and even calculators. We are so grateful to PwC for this gift because it will really be helpful for all our learners.
We distributed the stationery packs to our grade 9 and 10 learners on Monday the of 29th of August and to our grade 11 and 12 learners on Tuesday the 30th of August. The learners were all smiles after receiving their stationery as this was really unexpected. After the Post Mandela Day Celebration at the branch earlier this month, we did not expect that PwC would come back to the branch so soon. We are really grateful.
One of our grade 9 learners, Ayakha Ndzuzo said: “PwC has really helped me with the stationery, I am grateful and cannot wait for the PwC employees to visit the branch again so that I can say thank you in person”
The Nyanga branch is thankful to PwC, its employees and our amazing superhero tutor Nosipho Mjiyakho.
Lloyd Lungu