Reach-a-Cross

A program has been developed and facilitated so as to reach as many local educators as is possible and share our 'nature based schooling system' with them. Their growth and upliftment will directly reach many of the pupils in the remote areas of the Limpopo Province. A bursary trust is in place, which is reliant on a constant source of revenue from private funders to help educate learners from historically underprivileged communities.

Almost 100 school and about 600 educators are registered in the programme. The educators come from areas as far as 200 km from Hoedspruit. Most of the educators have an average of 60 to 100 learners in their classrooms with the minimum teaching equipment and space. Still the educators do not give up and strive to overcome the difficulties and give their learners the best education possible. Our role is to facilitate the process where sharing and utilising of information takes place.

The topics of the workshops come from the assessment sheets the educators complete at the end of every workshop. They are relevant and practical topics, e.g. lesson planning, group work, integrated teaching, teaching aids, environmental teaching, classroom management, why does a learner fail to progress.

With most of the topics an environmental theme or readily available teaching aid is attached. The reason for this is to get the educators environmentally aware of their surroundings and how they could utilise it in their teaching.

● REACH-a-CROSS is the outreach vision of the Southern Cross Schools

Teacher cadetships are available for enthusiastic individuals from the local community, whereby the Southern Cross Schools assist with long-distance training bursaries. The training teachers are employed through the school and paired with existing teachers allowing for the gaining of practical experience both for future staff within the school and other schools within the region.

Weekend classes are offered for existing teachers in rural and disadvantaged schools in order to assist with their upskilling, both in environmental and outcomes based education teaching. In doing so, far more pupils will be reached if their teachers are motivated and trained. An important feature of this exercise is to enable teachers to use the environment as their classroom.

Summer camps and courses are on offer for overseas, underprivileged and handicapped children, concentrating specifically on the outdoors and environment.

As stated, we believe that Man's ultimate survival on Planet Earth; will to a large extent depend on his management and wise use of the environment. Since a great percentage of southern Africa's population exists within the natural environment, it makes enormous sense, that these very people are educated in the judicious use of the environment.

Our school believes it can make a significant contribution in reaching these historically underprivileged people. This can be achieved by assisting local educators in their personal up-skilling and upgrading. In so doing many more people might be reached and educated.

In an effort to achieve these aims, we have devised a three-pronged approach.

● ECO TRAINING
Reach-a-Cross and Klaserie Private Nature Reserve work in conjunction on the children's eco-training.

The children of the workers in the KPNR also attend the programme. Most of these children live outside the Reserve and only see their parents in the holidays. Most of the children have no knowledge of the bush. Our aim is to educate them on specific aspects of nature. The idea is to teach them to respect the resources and to grow an understanding and love for the environment. A tree is not just firewood and an impala is not just meat. This is an ongoing programme and each child receives a certificate after completing the course. The children move up in levels as they complete the courses.

Children from ages 5 to 16 attend the training. The 4 components we focus on in the course are Plants, Birds, Animals and Man in nature. We have already completed t he first two and are now focussing on animals. The children get a booklet with information, worksheets and activities. They also receive a task (homework) to complete for the next training.

Presently, 180 children are enrolled in the programme. They are divided into 4 groups of 40 to 50 per day.

● BURSARIES
This ensure through sponsorship, that a bursary trust is in place so as to help educate learners from historically underprivileged communities.

● CADETSHIP
Through a teacher cadetship, also supported by private funding, Southern Cross Schools aims to identify aspirant teachers from the rural communities, thus contributing in another manner to the overall development of teachers from historically underprivileged backgrounds. A women's upliftment program which will focus on ABET (adult basic education) and skills development as well as product marketing, which will be directly linked to financial benefit from tourism, is currently being initiated in conjunction with the Kruger to Canyon Biosphere Reserve. Through economic upliftment and enrichment programs, the school hopes to reach the hearts of communities in the area, making a significant difference whilst imparting an understanding of the environment to them. A Summer School will be run during the school holidays for underprivileged and handicapped children and also as a fundraising opportunity when overseas exchange plans get underway. This will be linked to tourism in the region, by encouraging parents to visit lodges whilst sending their children on the camps. This initiative is supported by private funding and identifies aspirant teachers. These 'interns' are then seconded to the school for the duration of their tertiary education. In that manner they serve an ongoing teaching practice, having the opportunity to grow and develop their teaching skills and techniques.

Contact Details:
reach@scschools.co.za
Southern Cross Wildlife School
PO Box 116, Hoedspruit, 1380, South Africa

Tel +27-15-793 0590
Fax +27-15-793 0557

E-mail: raptor@scschools.co.za
Webmaster: