Overview
We have implemented our holiday schools for grades 0, 1 and 2 so that the foundation phase education of orphans and vulnerable children is developed with strength and understanding. The aim of including the younger grades is to ensure that the children start their schooling years on a solid foundation. The Tomorrow Trust realised that many of the problems that our older learners experienced was a direct result of gaps in the foundation phase of their education.

Our main objective with the Grade 0, 1 and 2 programme is not only crisis management, but to be proactive and really intervene in the children’s lives, through quality, holistic education, at a much younger age. Another objective is to keep the children off of the streets during their holidays and help to alleviate their boredom by providing a stimulating educational environment. These children are often left to their own devices during the holidays and end up playing on the streets where there is the threat of danger.

We are very fortunate to have the support of Saxonwold Primary in JHB and Lyttelton Primary in Pretoria in the programme. We have 55 children in our PTA Holiday School and 120 children in our JHB Holiday School.

The Trust feels very strongly about ensuring that the children are well fed with nutritious, well balanced meals during the programme as this has a direct influence on their ability to concentrate and indirectly will have an impact on the programme. The children are given healthy, generous portions with lots of variety.

The curriculum has been designed by our curriculum advisor, Zillah Rukasin, who is a highly qualified teacher with 35 years of experience. In the future, we will formulate our own work books. We are currently working on a manual that will be used across the board in all of the holiday schools and followed by all the co-ordinators and teachers. The manual will incorporate perceptual training for grade 0 and numeracy, literacy and reading for Grades 1 and 2. Life skills, music, movement and ball activities will be incorporated for all the grades. We have social workers who assess the children during the holiday school on an observational basis. The children are observed from afar so as not to make them feel ill at ease. They are assessed through their interaction and play with the other children and the pictures that they draw.