Well wishes from one of our former early board members, Maureen Archer

We are huge fans of Maureen Archer, who was one of Maurita's lecturers at college, and one of the first Shine Trust members dating back to 2000.  It was lovely to hear from her this week...sometimes it feels the whole world is willing us on!

Dear Shining-Lights-for-Children's-Education

I am so filled with admiration and respect for the amazing spread of your

work for so many deserving children and teachers. It is truly empowering for

the whole system, and life changing for individuals like Siyamthanda and all

his peers who benefit from contact with Shine volunteers.

May you all continue to persist in your dedication and generosity of spirit that

is such an inspiration to teachers and learners everwhere.

Viva Shine!

Much love and enthusiastic support, 

Maureen Archer

Maureen Archer (right) with Helen Hoare, one of our Zonnebloem volunteers

Sue Meyers, a volunteer's testimonial

We love to share our volunteers' stories.  Sue's is particularly inspiring. Thank you, Sue, for your sentiments. I know that the children will miss you enormously, and we look forward to following your  journey.

Dear Kathryn,

Thursday, 20 October, was my last day at the Zonnebloem Shine Centre.  I have been a volunteer since August. 

Interacting with the children, helping them improve their reading and writing skills, was an incredible experience that I will never forget!  I Hope to return again! 

Having not come from a teaching background, the first few weeks were a learning experience, but as I grew more comfortable with the sessions, of course it became lighter and easier.  The two group training sessions you and Elizabeth conducted were immensely valuable!

Watching the children's skills improve was heart warming.  They are incredible little people, and I have a very special place for them in my heart.  

Karen and the other volunteers were welcoming, kind, friendly and supportive.  They provided helpful feedback and suggestions.  I will miss them and the children so much...I had to fight back tears on the last day.

South Africa is the first stop in a solo trip I am taking around the world, during which I am volunteering in various places along the way. My stops over the next four months include New Zealand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand (I haven't planned further than that).

I am impressed with the Shine Centre and know you will be even more successful in your future endeavors.  What you are accomplishing is so simple, yet practical and wonderful.  Several of my US friends are involved in establishing and furthering NGOs, and I know how hard they focus on their organizations every day.  It truly is a labor of love.

I am writing a blog / journal, which perhaps will be used for future writing about my travels -https://suemtravels.wordpress.com/ - we’ll see.

My experience as a Shine Centre volunteer was amazing and I have nothing but praise and good wishes for your organization! 

Sincerely, 

Sue Meyers

Sue and Zonnebloem girls 

Sue and Brianne, Zonnebloem

Sue and Manqoba

A Shine London Fundraiser

I recently returned from a trip to London, where we held a 'Friends of Shine London' fundraiser. Karen Taylor organised a magnificent evening of music by the Kings Wimbledon players for 60 appreciative friends. 

Many thanks to the musicians, Mark, Leandro and Helena for a sublime evening.The proceeds of the event went to the Shine Centre. We raised approximately 1400 pounds sterling (still counting).

A big thank you to Karen for her tireless work, her husband, Russell, for the support he shows us in so many ways, and to Gayle and Christian for hosting the evening. 

I want to also add a special thank you to Victoria Wall for donating the wine for the evening. 

In addition, there was a wonderful team of helpers who offered a delicious feast of canapes to add to our enjoyment.  

This was a true team effort, and we very much appreciate our friends so far away helping us with the work we do. It was an outstanding evening!

The appreciative audience

our wonderful musicians: Leandro, Mark and Helena

Maurita, Karen and Kathryn, Cape Town, 2010

A praise note

The culture of praise notes has become ingrained at the Shine Centre. Shane, a Grade Two child from Claremont Primary School, expressed his appreciation earlier this week to his volunteers, Mary and Em. Heartwarming!

Praise indeed! 

Snapshots of a Shine Centre.....

 Loyiso's favourite book, 'My Name is Lizo'

The written conversation went like this:
Loyiso: "I like to play football."
Karen: "What do you do when you play football?"
Loyiso: "I MUST play at the stadium!"

Friendship

Lubabulo was looking through the 'T' alphabet bag and pulled out the following objects: a truck, a tiger and a torch.  The following sentences were generated from the bag:  

"I like trucks."

"Two little tigers had lots of teeth."

"Police looked for a gangster stealing a torch."

What a wonderful  tool for language enrichment.

Lubabulo's Have-a-go writing

Thank you to Milnerton Junior School

Recently, Anita Scott (a Grade Four teacher at Milnerton Junior School) gave her friend, Karen Crossley (the Zonnebloem Shine Centre Coordinator) a selection of wonderful books from her school.  Milnerton recently hosted a Readathon and made Shine the recipient of the books that were collected. 

We plan to use these books in the Shared Reading corner, and some of the books will go to the Zonnebloem Girls' school library. 

...From children to children: I love this circle.   

Cwayita and Elona enjoying the new books

The day in the life of a volunteer...a snapshot.

Over and above volunteering at the Prestwich Street Primary School Shine Centre, Kelly Harding teaches vocabulary enrichment every Monday afternoon to 16 Grade One boys at Zonnenbloem Boy’s Primary School.

Kelly has made use of materials and activities, teaching this group in a fun interactive manner since the end of May 2011.

The children have responded well to this new and exciting experience and the teacher has noticed a marked improvement in their classroom English skills.

Kelly with the Grade One English Programme boys: she was showing them photos of her trip to Botswana

Here they are looking at an elephant, discussing his skin.  "Is it rough or smooth? Feel your skin.  It is smooth, feel the carpet, it is rough! How do you think the elephant's skin will feel, rough or smooth?" Rough was a new word for them.

Kewtown Literacy Centre

We recently made a visit to Kewtown school to see the literacy project started through a collaboration with Common Ground. We have been providing support and training for over a year. It was great to catch up with Nicole who is spearheading the project.  She proudly showed us the progress that has been made at the school. 

Through these partnerships, we can continue to work towards our vision of creating a nation of readers. 

Maurita and Nicole

Loyiso Tumyiswa singing Lizo's song

Sunshine Kids Reading Centre, Clarence Road Primary in Durban

We wanted to share the latest photos of the Sunshine Kids Centre, sent from Joan in Durban. She reports that people are contacting her weekly to join her team. We are delighted that she is having such success, and we plan to support her the whole way. Once we have our new games ready for printing, which should be by the beginning of December, we look forward to helping her expand her sessions. I heard from Joan earlier this week, and she now has 17 volunteers, and growing! Out of acorns.....

'Time to Think' workshop

Shine sends a big thank you to Michael Heuermann for running a 'Time to Think' workshop last week at Little Streams in Constantia.

Shine Centre Posters and Bookmarks

We have been working hard on a couple of initiatives recently, including our peer reading scheme, the Shine Book Buddies Programme. The Programme offers older children the chance to read with younger children in a creative space, and we are hoping to launch it with the help of the WCED in the next few months.

In the meantime, we wanted to thank our friends at Clip Clop publishing, Tandym printers, (http://www.tandym.co.za/) our designers Bryan and Nat from B-Design and Astrid from Schwarzie Designs (http://www.schwarzie-designs.com/Art_by_Astrid/Art_by_Astrid.html) for the work they have done for us. The team work has been inspiring.  Thank you!

Below is a selection of our new posters and bookmarks.

Shine Book Buddies stickers 

Another bookmark design 

Book Buddies praise comments: a variation of our now famous praise note! 

Lucy Corne's wedding

Lucy Corne (Claremont Primary School Shine volunteer) is marrying her fiance, Shawn, at the end of this year. Instead of wedding presents, the couple has asked for donations towards the Shine Centre.  


Shine sends a big thank you to the beautiful couple for their selflessness.  It is so comforting to know that this world has such special young people living in it!

Lucy and Shawn 

The WCED and NGOs

On 28 September 2011, approximately 400 NGOs were invited by the WCED (Western Cape Education Department) to attend a meeting at Livingstone School to discuss how NGOs and the WCED can work together in 2012. 

Superintendent-General and Head of Western Cape Education, Penny Vinjevold, outlined the three strategic goals of the WCED: 

• to improve literacy and numeracy in primary schools

• to increase the number of children who pass the NSC (National Senior Certificate) and improve the quality of those passing results

• to reduce the number of underperforming schools

Vinjevold spoke about the WCED's improvements and its key focus areas for 2012. She welcomed suggestions on the WCED’s budget spending, and on better tactics to deploy the education department’s officials. (Her powerpoint presentation is available to those who wish to view it)

Chief Director of Districts WCED, Linda Rose, sent a strong message when she spoke about the importance of protecting teaching time in the classroom.  The new curriculum, CAPS, will ensure that every teacher's time is more focused.  It will also give clearer guidance on what will be taught when.  It was so rewarding for us to hear Rose mention the Shine Centre when she spoke about 'best NGO practice.'

Claremont Shine Centre Maths Programme.

Thanks to the training and guidance from the Brombacher and Associates team, 24 children and 16 volunteers took part in a pilot maths programme launched at the Claremont Primary School Shine Centre on 16 August 2011.  

Di Donaldson from Brombacher and Associates was on hand, offering support to the learning partners as they started on their new Number Sense workbooks.  The Shine Centre Founder Director, Maurita Glynn Weissenberg, was present for the launch, along with Shine's programme manager, Bea Volbrecht, and the Claremont Shine coordinator, Di Kerswell.


After the opening, Donaldson answered the volunteers’ questions and offered suggestions on how to assist and encourage the children when using the workbooks.Thank you to the whole team for an informative and enjoyable session.