Cause Index

Waterberg Academy

Community Partnership Programme

Mak­ing a dif­fer­ence to its rural neighbours

Man’s ulti­mate sur­vival on Planet Earth will depend on his man­age­ment and wise use of the envi­ron­ment. Since a great per­cent­age of south­ern Africa’s pop­u­la­tion and Water­berg Academy’s neigh­bours in par­tic­u­lar, exists within the nat­ural sur­round­ings, it makes sense, that these peo­ple too, are edu­cated in the judi­cious use of the envi­ron­ment within the realms of the pre­scribed curriculum.

In many of our rural schools the nat­ural envi­ron­ment is the class­room. And since things nat­ural are inter­re­lated, per­haps des­tiny has both dic­tated and cre­ated an oppor­tu­nity for the peo­ple of South Africa to work in har­mony with nature, and through edu­ca­tion, evolve a sus­tain­able uti­liza­tion of our planet.

At the Water­berg Acad­emy, we believe there is an oppor­tu­nity for part­ner­ships to be formed with all schools in order to facil­i­tate devel­op­ment in a holis­tic manner.

As part of our phi­los­o­phy and ethos we aim to:
1.Serve and grow with the broader community.
2.Meet with all stake­hold­ers and facil­i­tate the design and imple­men­ta­tion of edu­ca­tional strategies.
3.Assist local edu­ca­tors in their per­sonal progress, so play­ing a role in indi­vid­ual growth and development.
4.Bring together future gen­er­a­tions to work as teams, solv­ing real world issues and imple­ment­ing their solu­tions. Ulti­mately, these stu­dents will become effec­tive and proac­tive mem­bers of their own nation and of our global community.
5.Pro­mote a cul­ture of ser­vice beyond self, and thus fos­ter a com­mit­ment of work­ing towards a bet­ter future in our country.

The pro­gramme is multi faceted and has a num­ber of arms in its umbrella.

Bur­sary fund

The school has estab­lished a bur­sary fund and is con­tin­u­ally seek­ing out donors who wish to make a dif­fer­ence. The monies raised are added to the fund, and wor­thy recip­i­ents are sourced and offered the oppor­tu­nity of attend­ing the school as a full-time stu­dent. The growth and achieve­ment of the already for­tu­nate chil­dren has been a hum­bling experience.

Work­ing with the local rural teachers

Through the organ­is­ing of work­shops and dis­cus­sion forums, inter­ested stake­hold­ers are brought together to share, debate and grow. It is rel­e­vant that dur­ing these inter­ac­tive occa­sions, the empha­sis is placed on sup­port. The Acad­emy staff work side by side with the par­tic­i­pants, and together they evolve ideas given the mea­ger resources avail­able in their schools.

Expe­ri­ence has taught us that the pro­gramme can­not exist in iso­la­tion, and as such has to be researched and planned with the community.

Teacher cadet­ships

Cur­rently a fund is being inves­ti­gated with the inten­tion of assist­ing under­priv­i­leged school leavers who wish to study teach­ing. These stu­dent teach­ers will remain at the school for the dura­tion of their stud­ies, where they will be tutored in the required teach­ing skills and gain first hand experience.

Kids4Kids

This is a pro­gramme, in which the pupils at the school are encour­aged to give ser­vice beyond self. The chil­dren vol­un­teer to join this move­ment and run the pro­gramme them­selves. Although in its infancy, the boys and girls already ser­vice a weekly feed­ing scheme which sup­ports up to three hun­dred chil­dren, mostly below the age of twelve. They sup­port the under­priv­i­leged chil­dren in Lesed­ing through numer­ous schemes and serve in an Aids orphanage.

The end in mind

The dream is to con­tinue to make a sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion and a dif­fer­ence to our won­der­ful country.

Click here to make a donation now