School of Excellence flies solo with support of the Eden District Municipality

Hatched from the ideal of better literacy for education after a meeting addressed by Brian Schreuder, Deputy Director General of Education Planning and Development of the Western Cape Education Department in George, Pat Laws from the Eden District Municipality connected with SOLO Outdoor Experiences during the winter holiday season of 2010 to start a new concept in education, namely a “School or Excellence.”

The Deputy Mayor of Oudtshoorn, Ben Pannas and Sophie Strydom, Chairperson of Obumi Obutsha, with some of the learners that performed their radio drama during “Payback Time.”

After identifying learners from schools in the region with enough talent but not enough opportunity, a week-long workshop sponsored by the Eden District Municipality and SOLO Outdoor Experiences, took place at De Hoek Mountain Resort, not far from the well-known Cango Caves.

The Western Cape Education Department, Ubomi Obutsha and the Oudtshoorn Municipality supported the concept of positive role modeling in combination/conjunction with substance abuse to create various opportunities for writing poetry and drama reflected within the themes that the learners experienced by SOLO Outdoor Experiences.

 SOLO, operating from De Hoek Mountain Resort that is owned by the Eden District Municipality, provided Adventure Based Education Programmes for thousands of learners during the past twelve years.

Exciting activities like wild caving, abseiling and solitaire provided learners with enough scope to create masterpieces in poetry and drama.

A follow-up workshop in Moodle, a Learning Management System used internationally by well-known universities and also with the eLearning Component of the Western Cape Education Department where learners become involved in online learning activities, provided the opportunity for learners to set the pace for Education in Another Way.

Challenging their educators in the Eden and Central Karoo Education District (who is at the forefront of teacher’s online training in the Western Cape) by using Moodle as an online facility for their “Skryfskool,” they also convinced SOLO and the Eden District Municipality to push for another opportunity via Hans Oosthuizen, eLearning Advisor from the Eden and Cental Karoo District Office for Education to set up another workshop for the week of 6 – 10 December 2010.

By using poetry and radio drama as the ultimate avenue a workshop at Schoemanspoort (a facility from the Department of Culture and Sport) learners from schools of Ladismith, Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn, Dysselsdorp, De Rust, Haarlem and Beaufort West created a platform from where more than 100 learners and concerned community members would become involved in the development of the God given talent of our learners in a positive and challenging way.

 Cell phones were used to produce digital recordings for radio drama, poetry and lyrics. After editing the material were ready for the learners’ mp3 players and for broadcasting on radio.

As stated during the “Payback Time” – session on 9 December 2010, Deputy Mayor Ben Pannas from the Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality urged the learners to use their talent to develop their communities into “Learning Sites of Excellence,” thus supporting the concept foreseen by the Eden District Municipality and SOLO Outdoor Experiences.

Using cell phones for digital recordings of poetry and radio drama… after editing the products are ready for broadcasting on radio!

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