All Out Africa were happy to welcome Dianne Ashman to volunteer with us for 3 weeks! Dianne came to us from one of our UK Agents, People & Places, to learn more about what we offer volunteers and what we do for the community. She did this through volunteering herself, and what an amazing impact she had!
Dianne is a retired teacher and was able to work with All Out Africa to put together a syllabus for our Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs), which is based on the Swaziland curriculum and development standards
The aim of the new syllabus is to:
Provide high quality education to orphan & vulnerable children attending our NCPs, which enables them to develop according to the expected standards and to prepare them for primary school
Ensure that education provided covers a spectrum of learning activities, including maths, communication, physical and spiritual development
Provide a focus for teachers to ensure consistency of learning and to act as a guide for them when planning lessons
Provide a focus for volunteers based at the NCP to enable them to actively contribute to the education being provided at the NCP
A pilot was conducted and worksheets and lesson plans created, and teachers received both group and 1:1 training from Dianne. Our NCP children and teachers enjoyed the new activities and our volunteers were able to lead on planning and delivering parts of the lesson with support from the teachers.
The feedback has driven us to continue with the syllabus, and we plan to officially launch at the beginning of the new school year in January. Each teacher will receive a book with a year of weekly plans for ideas for lessons and activities, and each child will receive a workbook with activities to be conducted each week.
We wish to say a huge thank you to Dianne for her dedication and contribution to the project. Siyabonga Dianne!