The Shine Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

Our plan

While working in a voluntary capacity, offering remedial support to second language learners at Observatory Junior School, Maurita Weissenberg, an experienced primary school remedial teacher, saw that the school would benefit greatly from a structured, early intervention, educational support programme. She recognised the following issues needed to be addressed: ∗ The average class in South Africa contains forty learners of greatly varying reading ages. ∗ A significant percentage of learners are two to three years below the class average in reading. ∗ The language of instruction is the learner’s second or third language. ∗ Continual poor results and test failure lead to poor self-esteem. ∗ Learners with learning disabilities such as dyslexia receive minimal remedial support and no other specialist support. ∗ Most parents are from low-income groups and cannot provide extra support. ∗ Teachers are overwhelmed and need support. Maurita established the Shine Centre in 2000. It was was modeled on the Education Business Partnership, a project that had been achieving good results in the UK. The volunteer programme has run successfully in Observatory Junior School since 2000. Since then, we have developed three more centres. We have close to 250 volunteers working on a weekly basis with our children. We ensure that each child sees the same volunteer each week, to create continuity. www.theshinecentre.org.za Blog: www.shinecentrecapetown.blogspot.com for weekly updates

What we did

We now run four flagship centres and support others in using our model. We choose schools with good infrastructure, committed staff and previously disadvantaged parents who choose to pay high transport costs from township areas in order to provide their children with what they believe to be a better education. What we do: (1) Literacy Hour using Volunteer Learning Partners We offer a multi-sensory intervention programme twice weekly to all Grade 2 and 3 learners who are not reading at the appropriate grade level. We make sure that the learners have appropriate reading material to take home. Most of the learners on our programme have improved their reading age, some by up to three years. We pair up any Grade 2 or 3 learner that needs intensive support with a trained volunteer who serves as their Learning Partner and together they work through the Shine Language and Literacy programme. Individual attention is vital; it also assists us in building up a detailed profile of the learner. We now have close to 250 volunteers ( as of March 2010) This profile includes tracking their learning behaviour and reporting on their physical and emotional status. As an example,three learners were identified by their Learning Partners to have chronic hearing problems. As a result, two learners were fitted with hearing aids and one learner had a successful operation. (2) Assessment We asses the reading ability of all Grade 1, 2 and 3 learners. Early intervention goes a long way towards preventing learning disabilities and promotes sound, independent learning habits which stand learners in good stead for the rest of their lives. (3) Ear and Eye Tests We facilitate the screening of all Grade 1 learners’ hearing and eyesight. (4) Parent Workshops We hold two Parent Workshops a year, where we cover topics such as nutrition, stress management, the importance of storybook reading, and ways in which to help learners overcome learning difficulties. We provide parent packs, which include storybooks. (5) Book Club We equip Grade R, Grade 1 and 2 classes with 50 multicultural storybooks and parent packs with the aim of getting more books into the home environment, and encouraging parents to read to children. This goes further than instilling a love of reading. It gives parents an additional way of spending quality time bonding with their children, and embarking on a journey of discovery with one another and the wider world. (6) Swap Shop We are on a continual quest to stockpile second hand and new storybooks for our Swap Shop, which is open up to four days a week. A Foundation Phase learner owns the first book handed to them, with the knowledge that they can choose to keep the book or swap it once they have read it. We find that this is an efficient way of encouraging learners to take reading books home, especially in cases where the school does not have a library. (7) Professional Sharing Each term, we meet with the Heads of Department and Foundation Phase teachers, where we discuss the Shine Programme, learners’ results, share good practice and plan for the following quarter. All Foundation Phase teachers attend a Shine workshop at the beginning of the year. (8) Volunteer Recruitment and Training We hold bi-monthly orientation and introductory training courses for people interested in volunteering at Shine centres. We also give quarterly training to volunteers who are already on the programme, teachers who want to use our methods in the classroom, as well as any member of the public interested in implementing a similar programme. Regular communication with our volunteers provides us with feedback on each learner’s progress and the opportunity to tweak our programme to better meet that learner’s needs. In 2007, the Shine Centre was formalized into an NPO and obtained PBO status. In addition, the Shine Centre received 501(3) c status in the USA at the beginning of 2010. Funders. Maurita Weissenberg,Founder Director, and Kathryn Torres, Director of Outreach and Anne Beachyhead, our Financial Director, are the major fundraisers, although all members of our small yet effective team play a role in fundraising. To date, we have numerous funders, including the Douglas Murray Trust, Nussbaum Foundation, Vitol (USA), Dame Hillary Cropper Charitable Foundation (UK), the Dangwen Family Trust, Ackerman Family Foundation, Truworths, Lions Head Rotary, Deutsche Bank Foundation and the Torres Family Trust. We raise smaller amounts through our ‘Sponsor a Child’ initiative. We have also recently begun the process to become part of the Woolworths ‘My School My Village My Planet’ initiative. Shine requires ongoing funding to maintain our four flagship centres. Our pilot school, Observatory Junior, has not only achieved excellent literacy results but has also become recognized as a school which has huge potential to achieve in other areas. We would like to see our other schools follow the same path.