KaMagugu Inclusive School started the year off with a bang. A total of 73 new learners and six new staff members have joined the KaMagugu family, bringing the totals to 317 and 53 respectively.
It has started four new support classes for the weaker ones, in which they will do academic work at foundation level before break and then attend skills classes such as cooking, music and dance, creative arts and gardening. Another new class is the senior skills – these learners will leave with a special education grade nine certificate.
The school now also has its very own music teacher, who is adored by the children. Some highlights this term have been Valentine’s Day, the athletics meetings and the learner achievers’ awards ceremony.
Valentine’s Day was festive, with many learners dressed in red. Beautiful items like necklaces, bracelets, hearts to hang and biscuits, were sold by the skills learners.
Their interhouse athletics day was held at Nelspruit Primary School, where the school’s Zebra team won the overall prize. This event allowed them to choose the KaMagugu team, who took part in a fun athletics day on March 5 against Dasha and Estralita. This was a very happy day for them, and for once the learners had fair competition, participating against other children with either intellectual impairments or physical disabilities. They were proud of their medals and would not take them off when participating in other events, resulting in lots of noise while they were running.
On March 7, 22 KaMagugu pupils met at Nelspruit Primary School for the learner achiever’s ceremony. This day was set to congratulate all learners in the province on their good work in 2013. Their very own marimba band provided entertainment.
KaMagugu’s global school partnership with Watergate School in England, will continue this year. Two teachers, Saprian and Thoko have been selected as the lucky ones to visit the school, and then host the UK teachers during their visit. Regular Skype calls are made with Watergate, and on March 10, they had a Skype sing-off, and taught one another various songs.
The outreach programme held once a month on a Saturday is progessing and is well supported. Current subjects offered include computers, sign language and early childhood development.
