2024 – A Year in Review

This year has seen us analyse what we do, how we do it and who we are impacting and this clarity helped us draw up our Theory of Change Infographic which we share with all our sponsors and supporters. We hope it excites you as much as it has inspired us. As this year draws to a close, we are working on producing a new book, The Power of Possibility, which will showcase the achievements of our beneficiaries and their journeys and will be sponsored by the Cavern family. Our hope is that every child is better prepared for the next phase of education, that we continue to improve norms and standards of education in rural South Africa and that all our beneficiaries know the power of possibility.

In this newsletter we share a few of our achievements this year.

2024 saw the proclamation of KZN’s newest Nature Reserve, the Northern Drakensberg Nature Reserve, 6500ha of mountainside that will be conserved and preserved for future generations and Royal Drakensberg Primary School is now a school in a Nature Reserve. In a world of challenge and noise, we are able to find peace and build an appreciation for the natural world and in 2025 we will work intentionally, within the classroom and in the outdoors, to share this unique feature with the children in our care.

With 108 children, the reintroduction of grade 4 and a team working tirelessly to see our RDPS children make progress we consider 2024 to have been a success. Each term a number of key activities have taken place and a few special items include the Outdoor Challenge, Market Day, Sungubala sleep-over and a 2-night wilderness camp-out. The school plays, the shorter showcases, sports days and celebrating books on Book Day add to the curriculum and make school a welcoming and fun space. The participation in Reach-for-a-Dream pyjama day not only makes for a wonderful cozy morning in the winter but allows us the opportunity to give back. These are all vital life lessons which build a committed community and a healthy society.

We are continually assessing language development in our school. Being proficient in the mother-tongue helps towards the acquisition of an additional language and so we need a language rich school, encouraging our children and their families to read isiZulu and English stories. The introduction of Concept Cat in the pre-school and the NELI programme in Grade R will assist our teachers as children develop their oral language in English which helps with reading and development in the higher grades. We are grateful to our partners who have made these resources available to our school.

This year much focus has been placed on our values, knowing them and growing them within our school and our greater community. This has led to the Parent Power workshops….

In our quest to work hand- in-hand with parents, we have invited them to be active partners in our goal of coaching citizens for the future. We did this by becoming a Parent Power School, a role that enables us to empower parents so that they can see themselves as change agents rather than spectators in their children’s educational and social development. We aimed to do this by on-boarding parents onto the school’s mission and vision as well as the core values. They discussed challenges that they face in supporting their children and solutions. An action plan was developed and shared with all parents, including those who were not present. We soon realized that though our parents were willing and eager to help, they did not have the necessary tools that they required in order to support the messages that the children were hearing from schools about what makes them a good citizen.

This is how the Parent Power Newsletter was developed. A newsletter specifically designed to support parents who were on a journey of instilling and practicing the school core values in their homes. The newsletter was in both English and isiZulu, so it reaches all parents in a language they understand. Furthermore, it was accompanied by videos, for those parents who may not be able to read the newsletter for various reasons. These platforms were a way of sharing tools that the parents needed in order for them to support the vision of the school, transforming rural spaces through quality education. They are an important catalyst in achieving this.

We held our final Parent Power Workshop for the year on the 26th of October 2024. It was pleasing to learn that the parents were seeing an improvement in their children after engaging in the action plan. We prioritized the next challenge and they once again brainstormed solutions, providing suggestions on how they could better support their children in order to succeed. We are fortunate to be in a position to co-create along with the parents as they begin to take ownership of not only their children’s education but also their well-being. There is now a clear understanding that what happens at home impacts what happens at school.

With valuable funding we have managed to add toilets to Mpumelelo Pre-School and an additional classroom at Little Flowers. Shelving has been added to a number of schools and book displays have made it easier for children to access stories and become excited about books. New resources for language development have been added and we are looking at improving Fantasy Play areas in the next few months. Dollies are loved and being able to play and dress, mimicking homelife, adds not only to the fun, but the opportunity to engage with language and develop vocabulary which underpins language development as children progress into the more formal stages of learning.

Our thanks extend to the corporates who have helped initiate these larger changes; Value Logistics, DENSO SA & The Joan Bertha Salamette Norman Will Trust.

October saw the gathering of all the practitioners and the Royal Drak team closely engaged with Khanyisela for the annual Christmas lunch. Much thanks extends to George & Gerti of SORO – Gemeinnuetziger Verein für soziales Engagement who make this a memorable occasion with a variety of wonderful gifts for everyone.

Some years all the pieces seem to fall into place, and it’s been one of those years for BabyBoost. More than 30 carers and babies (from 4 months +) have participated in the programme this year and we are delighted that this intervention is creating the positive changes in carer child interaction that we know will help build those little brains, laying a foundation for later development.

It’s not always easy delivering an intervention spanning 5-6 months. Carers have many life challenges and consequently the level of consistent attendance, so necessary for learning and practice has often been affected. But, guided by information from structured interviews last year, we developed a system of incentives and rewards which has led to very positive levels of attendance.

Carers love books and toys to help their babies learn. In addition, items to support carers’ attendance challenges in bad weather such as beautiful big umbrellas and warm BabyBoost branded jackets (if desired attendance levels are reached), are a huge incentive. Making attendance motivators and rewards transparent though a beautiful chart has meant that we have been rewarded by very good attendance at both Gugulethu and Samukelokuhle.

As a result, morale among our facilitators is high as they see carers attending to learn even in bad weather and they are delighted that families have a few more of those vital resources to continue to play and read at home.

Our thanks go to OxEd and Oxford Professors Maggie Snowling and Charles Hulme, so invested in children’s language development, for their fantastic response to our report on challenges, making it possible to buy umbrellas, jackets and books.

Attendance is important but equally so is a programme delivered by skilled and knowledgeable facilitators. Training, monitoring and quality of delivery is achieved through open and transparent dialogue using WhatsApp and Zoom tutorials. Videos are regularly reviewed; positive comments are provided and ongoing suggestions for development given.

This year we’ve been so impressed by the quality of some of the interactions between carers and babies. We can literally see those little brains being stimulated in a loving and supportive way and the enjoyment of children and carers alike has been wonderful to see. This important outcome is testament to the skills and knowledge of our BabyBoost team who continue to delight us with their dedication, skill, knowledge and enthusiasm.

So as the year draws to a close, we are even more firmly invested in this initiative to help carers give their babies some of the experiences that will pave the way to a better future. And we are so grateful for our wonderful, hardworking and knowledgeable team, to the carers who have come on the journey with us and to all those who have supported the programme.

Our thanks also extends to N3TC & The Joan Bertha Salamette Norman Will Trust for their investment in the BabyBoost programme. And very special mention to the friends in Edinburgh who source robust toys for our toy and book libraries & to Maureen for all the knitted toys.

A few years ago, we realised that we could have lovely buildings, good resources and a wonderful selection of books, but if we didn’t work to improve teacher practice, we would make little impact. Development in early childhood can be complex and as teachers and caregivers we need to be responsive but not jump to rote methods of repetition for learning. Teacher workshops have been held each term at Royal Drakensberg and this gives over 50 practitioners and our Royal Drak teachers the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas and build knowledge. The progress has been inspiring.

Going hand-in-hand with the workshops is our mentoring programme. Our 3 facilitators, Fikile, Mantombi & Sibonelelo continue to visit schools and help make suggestions to improve day-to-day learning. In addition to this part of the programme we have created a partnership between our Royal Drak teachers, the mentors and practitioners. We are working from one school to the next, drawing up Development Plans with SMART targets and the practitioners have made strides here too. Emseni School were celebrated this year when their story telling went from basic to excellent using story-props and engaging beautifully with the children.

We are also fortunate to have made good progress and celebrate the individual efforts of some of our teachers and practitioners that are completing formal qualifications;

Sibonenelo Dlamini is in her last semester of her B.Ed (Foundation Phase) and only has to complete her last assignment and one practical to receive her qualification. She has passed all her assignment with wonderful results and is looking forward to completing her degree.

Mantombi Khoza is in her first year of her Diploma in Grade R. Her assignments achievements reflect her dedication and interest and she continues to enjoy the course and is thrilled to be have the support to study.

Nokulunga Nkwanyana has two months left to complete her Level 4 in Early Childhood Development at Midlands College.

Current Level Four Training:
Nompumelelo Hlatshwayo
Philisiwe Mduba
Simphiwe Nene
Ntombizodwa Dube
Bonisiwe Zwane
Nokulunga Nkwanyana

Investing in teachers and improving practice is made possible by Value Logistics & the N3TC. Royal Drakensberg hosts two teacher interns annually and the progress made is to be celebrated. These interns will go back into our communities, with added skills and knowledge to help us continue to improve standards in rural KZN.

Wellness in early childhood development is important for the child’s overall development; it is key to their physical, mental and social wellbeing.

Porridge continues to be delivered to all our schools. 850 children receive a bowl of fortified porridge and following the building of our Theory of Change, we now know that’s over 190’000 meals annually! This year Megan & Hilton made a trip to the UK to visit the Retford Rotary where the idea of the “Bread Fund” hatched in about 2008. It was a special trip to see Terry Dunmore and Gwen Hines who were champions for the project in the early days. Megan was able to present to the club that continue to support this feeding programme and we look forward to welcoming the Rotarians to the Drakensberg in April 2025.

With numbers growing, and demand increasing, we are very grateful to The Joan Bertha Salamette Norman Will Trust for the top-up donation to our porridge fund. We have also been able to replace mattresses in the little schools. Many are in a state of disrepair, after many years of midday naps, and we even found a tattered old mattress full of termites which had to be destroyed!

The commitment from the Joan Bertha Salamette Norman Will Trust, coincided with the arrival of Leisa Albertyn, a qualified nursing sister who has helped us “Spring Clean” schools. Leisa has helped draw up lists of equipment and supplies needed. All our Khanyisela schools will have their First Aid Kits revamped and improved for the new year.

Knitted goodies of all shapes and sizes, from a little jumper for warmth to beautiful blankets for babies, to knitted toys and dollies, have brought tremendous joy to our community. We thank the Retford Rotary knitters, Maureen from Edinburgh, Gogie Jean and her team of sisters and helpers, and all the ladies that pop into the Cavern with a bag or three of goodies to be distributed. If we could bottle the joy and send it, we would!

The Little Gecko story which helped our children remember that they are “brave and strong” has an additional tale about the Little Caterpillar that reminds us that we are “different but beautiful”. These words of affirmation go hand-in-hand with a yoga programme that has poses, carefully crafted to have an OT objective too. We believe we are building children who will be able to cope in an ever-changing and challenging world by being better equipped.

Lions Clubs International list ‘Vision‘ as one of the 5 pillars of service and we were very fortunate to have the Carole, Pat & Rebecca from the Lions Club of Cowies Hill visit us in the Drakensberg to offer a vision screening opportunity to children. They screened 489 children and 65 adults, and 44 children and 16 adults were referred to the optometrist at Emmaus Hospital for further testing. Those that require glasses will receive them through government services, on an ongoing basis and we are so grateful to the Lions for providing funds to pay for transport to the hospital and to have files opened for each individual.

Eighty percent of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read with understanding. Another alarming statistic is that of the approximately 1 million children that begin school, only about 50% actually complete matric and sadly many perform poorly in the final examinations. South Africa has an education crisis and we need to tackle the challenge as best we can. Our Community Reading afternoons were introduced in 2023 and we continue to be amazed at the success.

Each term we choose one Khanyisela school in the community and two Royal Drakensberg teachers venture out and read to the children that gather. This year our record was 416 children gathering at Sivukile. Children coming together to listen to stories of their own free will! Our partnership with Book Dash allows us to distribute stories to the children to take home. “Research shows that owning books from a young age can change the trajectory of a child’s life. When children own books, it enables and increases book sharing and responsive parenting, which boost early developmental outcomes.”

We have not managed to mention every donor but please know that every Rand is appreciated. We work mindfully and our dedicated team helps initiate change in the region. We celebrate what has been possible. Over the years we have a cook who has become a qualified teacher, a waiter who now helps head up Parent Power, a child-minder that teaches and a young boy who now conducts the Youth Philharmonic in Pretoria. Giant leaps which make us swell with pride and only possible because of you, our wonderful network of donors and supporters.

Our Big5Hike for education ran for 10 years and we have managed to create an annuity fund which will be there in lean and difficult periods. We are grateful to our corporates and extended families for their support of our work.

In order for us to continue this important work in the Drakensberg, we would like to extend a request to all our followers to become part of the “in” crowd. Become a Community Contributor. From donating as little as R100 per month, you will be in a draw to win a getaway in the Drakensberg. Three prizes per draw & an adventure ride from All Out Adventures to add to the winnings!

Your contribution helps feed a child, train a teacher, school a little person, improve literacy, build a community and you are part of the change!

If we can love a child, help feed them, provide safe spaces and simulate young minds, we will initiate great things! Thank you for journeying with us…

With best wishes,

Teacher Thoba, Megan & Loretta