ORT SA CAPE
ORT SA CAPE is an educational NGO operating at the forefront of education in the Western Cape. ORT SA CAPE focuses on disadvantaged schools, teachers and children and prides itself on development for social change; opening minds, getting children off the street into enriching learning experiences and balancing this with helping teachers engage with their challenges.
ORT SA CAPE's mission:
• Opening minds and creating learning opportunities
• A bottom up approach to improving education
• Getting children off the street into enriching learning experiences
• Tailor-‐made teacher training opportunities
CASPER
Constructive Afterschool Programme for EnRichment Reading and Robotics for Grades 1–9, creating a safe environment after--‐school for children to learn while ‘Playing with Purpose’
The new ORT SA CAPE Winelands office based at Pieter Langeveldt Primary in Stellenbosch is ideally situated to serve the educational needs of the local schooling community. ORT SA CAPE offer a Constructive After School Program for Enrichment in Robotics and Reading (CASPER) in the broader Winelands community of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Wellington.
The CASPER program has been active in 13 schools and positively contributes to building learners’ self-esteem and collaborative learning skills by offering:
• Literacy and Reading –Peer learning and a buddy system is used alongside the ORT SA CAPE Literacy Wheel and Mobile App.
• Robotics – using LEGO Robotics construction kits and Computers to improve Science and Technology, Mathematics as well as cognitive and perceptual skills. The intentional integration of the Natural Science and Technology Curriculum is adding value to the learning experience of the participants in otherwise under-resourced classrooms. Robotics offers the added opportunity for the consolidation of concepts taught in the curriculum.
TEACHER TRAINING
ORT SA CAPE teacher training focuses on Literacy, Numeracy and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood and beyond. SETA accredited teacher training programmes in Level 4 and 5 as well as short courses are offered. Short courses on offer by ORT SA CAPE to groups of ECD, Grade R, Foundation and Intermediate phase facilitators/teachers include: Perceptual skills including Lego 6 Bricks; Cognitive skills development including use of the ORT SA CAPE Literacy Wheel (Intermediate Phase and beyond); Emergent Mathematics; English Language Development for Home Language and FAL. Current projects;
• R-Maths Programme is run in collaboration with SDU (Schools Development Unit) at CT and the WCED. ORT SA Cape is involved in the develpoment of materials as well as the training of 75 WCED subject advisers and 3500 teachers across the Western Cape.
• ORT SA CAPE Literacy Wheel Training. This training has been held both in the Western Cape and Gauteng. This training focuses on improving the literacy (comprehension and writing) skills of teachers and learners in rural and urban communities.
• Perceptual skills training including the use of LEGO Play box and 6 Bricks as a resource. ORT SA CAPE have trained over 100 teachers and supplied their classrooms with resources from the LEGO Foundation.
• ORT SA CAPE have collaborated with Vision Afrika, Ikamva Labantu and the THOPE Foundation to up-skill their child care workers and facilitators through training and on-site visits.
