Themba's latest report on parent workshops

I received a thorough report from Themba last week about the latest parent workshop. Themba joined us recently to work on the Outreach part of our programme. He is busy helping us set up book clubs and parent workshops in the communities. This is just a short extract from his latest feedback:

'Out of 100 parents who confirmed their attendance, only 29 parents arrived on the day. This was very disappointing to all of us, yet we did not let this get in the way of us facilitating a great workshop. The small turnout meant that we could have an intimate interaction with the parents and take part in discussions with them. I was able to communicate to them just how crucial it is to get to know the teacher of their child and not to wait until the child is under-performing at school before making contact.

Many of the parents we work with and meet at these workshops have themselves not had a good education. No one read to them as children and supported them beyond sending them to school. They all want to see their children do well and have access to opportunities they themselves have never had. Our workshops enable us to engage with them without judgment and help them to see opportunities that lie ahead.

We reflected (later) about how lucky we are to do the work that we do, and to have had the opportunity to be part of the conversation.  And seeing parents take ownership of the workshop was beyond anything we could have asked for!'    Themba Tshabalala

St Agnes Parent Workshop, June 2012

Nosipho and her charges for the day!

I received a lovely email from Themba Tshabalala, our Shine Community Projects Developer, who was reflecting on the last parent workshop:

'With all the workshops we've had it feels like the seeds have been planted. We have helped parents and care-givers see their role to their children's learning in a meaningful way. The St Agnes workshop gave us the opportunity to realise the importance of home language and how we accommodate it within the context of education in our country.
One parent, a French speaking parent whose son is a learner at St Agnes is confronted with the dilemma of how useful is speaking french at home while the environment and education system does not require it? I felt that his question was valid, and as a team, we could all relate to his frustration. We have all realised that French is important to his son, as it carries with it his sense of family and culture and a part of his education will be to preserve that.

Other parents threw in different elements of how they should and can help realise their children's potential. Games were played and chuckles shared, the reminder of childhood and that children's play is children's learning. 

Whether by sharing scary facts about the crisis of education in our country, or by sharing personal stories of our own reading journeys and imparting skills that can help them start this journey with their children and families, (we feel we are making a difference.) The parents were the champions of day, and now we need to strategise and put into effect a way that we will support them going forward.'

St Agnes parents

A snippet from Themba Tshabalala, one of our parent workshop facilitators

"On my way home on the train, I shared a seat with one of the Mothers from the parent workshop, and she had her daughters with her. They were doing paired reading together. That was sweet" X Themba

Themba and Linda, enjoying 'Lizo's Song.'

Parent Workshop, Claremont Primary, May 2012

Linda Rutter and her team ran a workshop at Claremont on Saturday. Linda sent me the following feedback from a mom who spoke to her on her way out...

“I nearly didn’t come today.  It was so cold and wet and I didn’t want to come out, but I’m very glad I did.  I now have simple tools to help my child with reading.  I didn’t realise it was so easy to help her, I’m very excited to be going home with this knowledge.” Magical things are happening.

Re-visiting the Inner Child....

A fly-on-the-wall observation from Linda Rutter, our Parent Workshop facilitator:...'Parents were keenly involved in the process.  Playing the games with them really worked.  At one point I stopped them and asked, “How are you feeling?” to which they unanimously replied, “Great!” 

There were regular outbursts of laughter and they had FUN – some of them said the last time they played a game was when they were a child.

A Personal Breakthrough

A lovely bit of feedback from Linda Rutter on the parent workshop from Saturday the 12th: 

'A father approached me after the workshop to say that he realised he was expecting too much of his child.  His child is still young, and cannot be expected to know everything all at once.  He committed to being more patient and understanding with his son and to supporting him as much as possible.  Here was a man who throughout the workshop listened intently and deeply, asked pertinent questions and internalised the message.  I left with the feeling that his relationship with his son was about to blossom...'

Parent Workshop, Preswich St School, 12th of May 2012

Parent Workshop, 12th of May 2012

Trudy sent me a great account of the latest Parent Workshop which was run on Saturday the 12th of May at Prestwich school: 
'The workshop was awesome. Linda Rutter and the team did an excellent job as the parents participated all the time and were very responsive and vocal about the needs for their child. The parents were very grateful to Linda for giving them the guidance and tools to help them whilst working with their children. The parent interaction was key, and and I am sure that Linda was happy as she felt the response was so positive. We had 63 parents join us, and the deputy principal and all the grade one teachers were amazed of the turnout from parents, as they mentioned that they normally get very little response when it comes to parent meetings....' 

It sounds like a very successful and worthwhile afternoon: thank you to all involved: you all  just seem to get better and better at communicating your message! 

The age to start reading with our children!

Observatory had a parent workshop on Saturday the 5th of May; 35 parents turned out, and a nutritious meal was served whilst discussing the joys of reading: a demonstration of paired reading was a very powerful tool to show the ease at which children can engage with text. Thank you to everyone involved.

The age to start reading with our children! 

Watching a film on the joys of the closeness created whilst reading to children 

 A warm bowl of soup and a discussion on what stops us reading to our children for two minutes a day  

Loui reading with the Observatory children 

Signing in with Nosipho

getting ready for soup and sandwiches 

The hall filling up....

Maurita and Linda

Enjoying sharing information

Story-time with the children whilst their parents are busy

Loyiso's Grandmother

The last parent workshop was attended by the  Grandmother of Loyiso, the little boy who shot to fame last year singing 'Liso's Song' with such gusto! We loved his rendition so much that we posted it on 'You Tube,' and the clip continues to get daily hits. His Grandmother was suitably proud of her Grandson, and it was very special to share the short, fun film with her last week. Thanks to Milly for the wonderful refreshments, and to the Shine Parent Workshop team for a successful and well-attended event. Bea commented that she was so pleased to see that an uncle came to support his nephew, and a
friend came along with one of the parents so that he would be prepared for
when he has children one day. This kind of dedication and involvement by the families of our children teaches us that we are all in this together. There is such a will by parents to ensure that their children get the best out of their schooling, and to have worthwhile and well-attended event points us all in the right direction.

Loyiso's Grandmother, of 'Liso's Song' fame! 

Parent packs being handed out by Daniswa

Eagerly awaiting the coming events

The comfort of cookies and a story! Linda and Themba

Linda and Themba, part of our team 

Maurita Glynn, Founder Director