South Africa’s basic education system comes in a wide variety of different categories and classifications. The two that are commonly known are private and public education. The most notable of the two is the public schooling system since it comprises the majority of school learners in the country compared to its private counterpart.
Due to this, among other reasons, there tend to be resource inefficiencies in the public schooling sector. This is where School Programmes play a crucial role in bridging the gap in learning as well as ensuring that learners engage in activities that assist them in advancing themselves and their surrounding communities.
Although there is no universal agreement on what constitutes a successful or effective programme or how it should be structured. There is some agreement regarding the several elements that can go into one.
However, there is a connection made between programme attendance and better academic performance as well as behaviour attributed to after-school programmes that use a developmental approach. The most all-encompassing programmes also have advantages for academics.
Thus, it is also through the provision of these After School programmes that children can improve their academic performance by participating in after-school music and art enrichment programmes.
Early Birds Academy, an after-school programme that currently operates, in eMfuleni, a township located in the Cape Flats region of the Western Cape is an organisation which aims to make a difference in the community through education.
Founder and former secondary school teacher told the Careers Portal that the Academy was established in late 2017 and later registered as an NGO in July 2018. She further explained that the school aftercare was founded with the intent to identify learners with potential in creative art within the community and create a safe space for them to learn and advance their academic capabilities.
Academics is an under-explored area of critical importance in the township and no-fee paying schools where learners are encouraged to perform at certain rates for certain subjects. But there isn’t an equilibrium to identify their potential strengths and their zones of proximal development, and we wanted to explore that and give them a chance to excel in their growth.
The Early Birds Academy founder adds that taking an academically formalized approach was key to the establishment of the academy, as it served the purpose of accommodating all learners about their preferred language of learning.
This would also include establishing whether learners have more of an inclination toward numeric or linguistic school subjects.
The academy also places a lot of focus on consolidating learner potential in the creative arts. This is partly because some of the participating learners aspire to pursue careers in the visual and dramatic arts. This unique ability to blend the creative arts with academic learning activities won them an award from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in 2019.
However, as is the case with most non-profit organisations, the daily operation of Early Birds Academy is not without challenges as the founder points out.
One key challenge is the lack of adequate safety, which tends to be an issue as the academy is located in a township in which volunteers tend to fall victim to being robbed.
In addition to this, the lack of consistently available transport for the learners to and from their respective schools is also a long-standing challenge. However, they have managed to partly address.
Some of the organisations that have worked in collaboration with the Early Birds Academy, including Good Housekeeping magazine and through participating in their pitch challenge, Early Birds Academy managed to secure charity funding to the tune of R15,000.
The academy has also partnered with the Arts Foundation as well as Novel Foundation to expose learners to art and how they can benefit from its commercial values.
In terms of plans going into the future, the academy’s founder further states that they intend to expand by opening an additional branch in Tsomo, Eastern Cape.
Those interested in becoming a part of their afterschool programme can contact the Early Birds Academy through the following channels: Instagram: early.birds. Academy Website: http://earlybirds.org.za/ Contact number: 064 198 9346
