HOD EDUCATIONAL GUIDENCE (INTERSEN PHASE)
Mr J Cawthorn
The HOD Educational Guidance portfolio for the Intersen Phase entails overseeing the emotional and academic needs of the learners.
The main area where academic support is provided is through extra lessons. Learners who are identified by their educators as needing this support are invited to attend lessons in English, Maths and where possible Afrikaans. These lessons provide the learner with one to one interaction with the educators in a much smaller environment. This not only enables the teacher to attend more directly to the individuals needs but helps with the identification of misconceptions.Specially designed computer programmes, that are CAPS compliant, are also utilised as support during these lessons.
In an ever changing and developing worldthe demands on children and families become more and more. A team of trained teachers counsel learners on an ongoing basis and give them the coping skills that they need for everyday life. The reasons for learners being counselled vary from family problems to trauma to behaviour modification.
All learners who have been identified as being at risk in some way are monitored through the School Based Support Team.Support and interventions are put in place where possible. If the concerns are beyond the scope of the SBST, the matter is referred to professionals. These include ouronsite Educational Psychologist, Mrs Virginia Schoombie,our Occupational therapists Mrs. Rozanne du Toit and our Speech therapist Mrs. Anet Radford. Social development, child welfare and the police have also been utilised to intervene where necessary.
Retention Schedulesare compiled for all learners who do not meet the academic requirements for their grade and need to be retained.All of the paperwork is compiled at school level and submitted to the district for ratification. Where more severe problems are encountered learners are referred to the district to apply for entrance into remedial schools.
A Spell-a-thon was held at the start of 2014 in order to raise money to support learners in need and various organisations in our community.Ahuge thank you to everyone who has supported this as we have been able to provide lunches for learners at school in times of need and organisations outside of the school.
At CKPS we have on-going drug awareness and HIV/AIDS programs to help our learners understand and deal with these very serious problems. The Life Orientation and Life Skills educators in the Intersen Phase have discussed issues concerning drug addiction and HIV/AIDS, and how, by making positive choices in life they can avoid being caught up in our country's very serious drug problem and HIV/AIDS statistics.
An initiative by the department of health saw the majority of the grade 4 girls receive immunisation against cervical cancer. This will hopefully continue in the future and the girls in grade 4 will be immunised every year. I appeal to the parents of the grade 4 girls who have not had the immunization to get this done at their general practitioner.
The grade 6 and 7 learners attended a workshop that addressed their sexuality and growing up. The workshop gave the learners age appropriate information which is so vital to learners making informed decisions.
A High School expo was held in the first term where various High Schools had stands in the hall providing our grade 6 and 7 learners and their parents with information about the various options that are available to them for High School. Many of our learners have been accepted at well renowned schools and offered bursaries for 2015.
I would like to thank all of my colleagues for their commitment thorough the year in helping and supporting the learners of CKPS.