Registered Charity: 1103909

Tyume Valley Schools  

An Educational Project in South Africa

 Changing South African Children’s Lives through Education

Activity Weeks For Children

 Schools belonging to our sister organisation, the The Ikwezi Rural Education Development Association  identified the need for help with putting into practice the new ideas of the South African ‘Curriculum 2005’.

We regularly organise short residential courses at Hobbiton Activity Centre at Hogsback.

During the week the students work in various subject areas such as science, english, maths, art and drama as well as music, sports and adventure activities

Hobbiton Activity Centre

The children enjoy staying in the dormitories and they also take part in the Adventure Centres activities including the climbing wall.

This environment has enabled the children to enjoy practical work in all subjects

Science field work has focused on practical work Woodland and litter surveys have given teachers and students new skills and techniques. In 2005 the eco-schools program was introduced to our schools and several of them have started work on these projects

Art -This beautiful mural was created by the students during an activity week in 2005

Music

Using recorders has encouraged the students to learn songs and play together.

The children have a strong tradition of singing and the teachers are always ready to join in.

Sports

Many of the schools have active sports teams and there are interschool competitions in netball, football, rugby and cricket.

We have volunteers who have helped with netball coaching and we have been able to take out donated equipment and sport strips

2006

Teachers and children from five primary and five secondary schools will be enjoying a TVS residential camp at Hobbiton in the Hogsback during August.

The camp will involve lots of exciting activities including craft work, photography, music and sport – all geared towards developing school project work and new ways of teaching.

Funds raised for the camp have been transferred to South Africa at cost by Global Currency Solutions  www.gcsexpress.com  as part of their corporate social responsibility programme.

English and Drama

The students and teachers have been shown how to produce brochures and have been encouraged to use drama and role play in their classroom activities

Activity Weeks at Hobbiton 

The local schools send small groups of students and a teacher to take part in the activities

The children really enjoy the experience of staying in the dormitories at Hobbiton and they are able to use the Adventure Centre’s activity facilities. We aim to provide the students with  stimulating learning activities  and the South African teachers with assistance in interpreting their National Curriculum by using practical, varied teaching methods.

When they return to their schools the students demonstrate their new skills to their peers and the teachers report back to the rest of the staff.

In the follow up weeks we try and assist the schools to put into practice the new teaching techniques.

In 2004 the theme of the activity week revolved around HIV/AIDS and care of the environment. 

The covers for these Memory Books were made by students from waste material. In Science they discussed the problem of waste and conducted a litter survey.

Activity clubs

We are assisting the schools in setting up after school activity clubs.  We hope that these will provide a focus for students, teachers and members of the communities to encourage the students to become involved in many activities such as  local crafts, sports, music and environmental care. They will also provide a time during which students can talk with those people who have become counsellors.

Many of the activities at Hobbiton are directed at developing these activities

Litter survey

Woodland survey