April News

Strike-a-Pose!

On 15 March 2013, Thembalitsha Education held its annual High Tea at the Devon Valley Hotel to raise awareness for the important work done by Graceland Preschool. The theme was fashion so everyone came dressed to impress, each woman displaying unique style, creativity and elegance.

We were blessed with light rain which forced the event inside one of the hotel’s conference rooms. This did not take away from the fun we had and in fact created a very cozy and intimate atmosphere that complemented the soothing music performed by Jenny Ah Chong, classically trained musician who had us captivated by the sound of her angelic voice.

The food was beautifully presented, almost too good-looking to eat. We are so grateful to the Devon Valley Hotel for their generosity as all the proceeds from the event went to Graceland. Graceland and the Devon Valley Hotel have a remarkable relationship. Some of the hotel staff actually send their children to Graceland Preschool so the hotel, in turn, are very supportive.

Our children will have breakfast for two months thanks to everyone who brought milk and oats to the Tea as a donation to Graceland Preschool. We also received clothes from designer Jaques Nhau for the children who modeled side by side with supermodels, Charné King and three of her fellow Miss SA finalists.

Everyone left inspired by what Graceland Preschool is doing in the community. If we work alone, we work in vain but if we work together we can make a difference as a community by ensuring that children are being taken care of and developed when they are in the most vulnerable stage of their lives.

A big ‘THANK YOU’ to all who supported the event!

March News

Getting to know Graceland’s new Principal

Graceland’s new principal, Simoné Van Der Berg, is an alumni of the School of Hope; another project of the Thembalitsha Foundation. She was one of their first matriculants and was valedictorian of her class. Simoné’s journey to success started when she enrolled at the School of Hope. She was 18 years old at the time, very insecure and didn’t even say a word to anyone unless asked a question. In her young life she had experienced her parents’ divorce, dropping out of school, failing a grade, moving schools 7 times and she grow up with her Grandmother who then passed away the year she enrolled at the School of Hope.

Up until the time she got to School of Hope she didn’t think she’d finish her schooling as everyone in her family only reached Grade 10, it was as if that was as high up the schooling ladder her family could go. She was told by family to give up and get a job but she knew that God had a bigger and better plan for her life. At the School of Hope she experienced something her had never experienced before, a love for school and hope and dreams for the future.

In 2008, Simone finished high school at the age of 21. She completed a sport internship with Ambassadors in Sport for a year but in the process she discovered that she loves teaching children. In 2010, she worked at a Daycare Centre as an assistant teacher to 1-2 year olds. Then in the beginning of 2011 Simone had an opportunity to go to New York with a Mentorship Program that is run for the learners of the School of Hope. After 3 month she returned from New York and started pursuing her studies in education. She then enrolled at the College of Cape Town to study Early Childhood Development.
In June 2012, she finished her year at College of Cape Town which qualified her to work as a pre-school teacher and manager. When the opportunity to work as acting principal opened up at Graceland, Simone grabbed it with both hands as she was very familiar with Graceland and its staff. Since January 2013 Simone has been the Principal of Graceland Preschool.

Simone will continue her studies part-time as she aspires to one day be a primary school principal. Her love for children has motivated her to inspire teachers to be the best they can be. Through inspiring teachers the lives of the children

they are teaching will be impacted in a positive way. So, a big welcome to Simone! She has shown herself to be a good leader and manager of Graceland during her time as acting principal. Let us stand with her in her pursuit to ensure that Graceland continues to be an outstanding school.

February News

Connecting with Stellenbosch University

On the end of the First Years MATIES launch, about 60 students did community service within the Devon Valley area and Graceland was fortunate enough to be a part of the community service project. 20 students came to assist Graceland with any maintenance that needed to be done. We had students attending to our vegetable garden, assisting with the daily routine, doing touch-up with paint to the school building, they started putting up our chicken-wired fence that had been donated by Mr and Mrs Ruest (local farm owners) and they painted our jungle gym with paint that had been donated by Stellenbosch University. The Graceland family is filled with gratitude and astonished at the attitude and diligence with which the students carried out their tasks.

One of the students who participated in the community service is wheel chaired bound. Her life story and ability to serve despite her physical disabilities inspired and enlightened a new way of thinking within the school. This allowed the learners and staff to realise that all things are possible and that there is always a good reason to serve others. We wish every student who came to serve at Graceland all the best and success for their academic years to come. May God bless you.

January News

Ending 2012 with love…
Thank you, Operation Shoebox, for ensuring that all the little ones Graceland received a gift for Christmas. We used this opportunity to share with our children as well as their parents what Christmas is really about and also about the heart from which the gift is given. As the children received their gifts, you could see each child’s eyes lighting up. Thank you for this heart-warming experience.

…And a new start for our little ones!
2013 is here! The first week of school was very exciting; a lot of new faces have been added to our school. We started with an Orientation Day to introduce the parents to Graceland’s staff, values, passion, policies and learning programme. All the new parents (25 children) attended the Orientation Day and were pleased with what Graceland is doing. Their hearts are very hopeful for their children. Our desire is to work with the parent to ensure that the hope they feel for their children’s lives will not fade but grow stronger through continuously making them aware of the value of education.

The challenge now is to get the children into routine and used to the way things are done at Graceland. For example, some of our new children use foul language and are used to people laughing at them when they do so! We want to teach them the appropriate way of speaking to one another.

We are taking full advantage of Summer with a water week. This has helped the children get used to their new school and their new teachers. Imagine twenty  2 - 3 year olds separated from their mothers for the first time! The first three days of school was a very tearful experience but it’s also amazing how quickly the children adapted when the teachers showed them extra care and won their trust.
Thank you for your support of Graceland’s precious children.

December News

 Our Market day was a great success. It was supported by the whole farming community For example, family, friends, farm owners, community workers, local businesses and people living in the community. We raised R3000 while spending only R100. We are so grateful for the support from the Farm owners and local businesses.  Your generosity is making a difference.

The support from the community continued at our Graduation and Concert. We had about 180 people present. This was an exciting time for Graceland but also a sad time as we are now saying goodbye to our 4-5 year old class. They are leaving Graceland to go to Grade R.  We wish them all the best and pray that God would guide and protect them on their new journey. We would like to thank Devon Valley Hotel for providing us with eats for the evening, Devon Valley Primary for providing us with sound, chair and tables and also Mr. & Mrs. Ruest for putting up the curtain railing.  We really appreciate you.

At our last session for the year of the 14 – week course that we are currently busy with, presented by Bonita Daniels from Bronne Sentrum; Graceland was declared the pre-school that implemented the programme the best amongst its peers. We are excited to be a part of the learning programme and can already see the positive difference it has made in the children’s learning. Well done Graceland teacher’s for your hard work.

It’s Christmas time again and our children have been blessed to a part of the Operation Shoebox project. It’s been amazing how people want to give to Graceland, to the point where Graceland is blessing another school that doesn’t have any gifts. A BIG, thank you, to Tracy English for working with Tokai His people to make sure that our children have gifts for Christmas.

2012 has been a year of transition for Graceland.   A teacher, Angeline De Jager, left because she feels that her season of working with children is over. The principal of Graceland Elizabeth Solomons stepped down from her position as principal after 7 years of being principal, she feels happier as a teacher and Graceland is happy to announce that she is still with us as Head - Teacher. We have a new principal at Graceland, Simoné Van Der Berg.  After being at Graceland for 6 months, she has settled in nicely and is very happy to be a part of the Graceland team.

After our Graduation and concert the Head of the Farmers Association Administration team can’t stop talking about the work Graceland is doing in the community.  This is opening doors for Graceland and creating new opportunities for relationships and partnerships.  It has been amazing to see how Graceland fits into the Greater community of Devon Valley.  We are very excited about 2013 and can’t wait for the new challenges, adventures and friendships it will bring.

As we say goodbye to 2012 we thank every person who supported Graceland, whether, in funds, kind or time.  Every little gesture of kindness towards Graceland is appreciated.  Thank you for a great year!  Till next year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

October News

This month we want to make sure we say a couple of public ‘thank you’s! Firstly to Distell for the basic computer training that they offered two of our teachers at Graceland during the September school holidays.  This empowers the teachers and increases the quality of the children’s pre-school foundations.

Secondly, at our High Tea in March, Rosmarie Ruest heard about Graceland Pre-school for the first time.  Since the event she and her husband have donated doormats, three washbasins with plumbing, new toilet seats, shelves in each classroom, hooks for the children’s bags, hand towels, three first-aid kits and puzzles.  They have not only donated things but they have also given of their time.  Mr. Ruest worked with our Caretaker to put up the hooks, shelves, fix the toilet seats and do the plumbing for washbasins. So thank you Mr. and Mrs. Ruest from Kyburg Farm! We appreciate the effort you have put in to make Graceland a safe and beautiful school to be at for our children. May God bless you.

We are proud to announce that Graceland Pre-school is registered with Association of Christian schools International, ACSI.  Two of our teachers went along to ACSI annual conference.  They had the opportunity to attend workshops on how to create an environment where the children learn good values and morals, which is very important to us here at Graceland.

On 12th October 2012 Graceland’s learners went on an outing to Bosch Ten Huis in Stellenbosch. This was the second year that Graceland was invited to a Christmas Party hosted by students. The children enjoyed themselves very much.  They participated in different variety games of which the Jumping castle was one of their favorites. They received a boerewors-roll which they enjoyed thoroughly. Finally, the children received an early Christmas package and they were excited to see Santa Clause in his red suit. We would like to say thank you to all the students who were involved and to Anri Mouton and Sanmari Marits who organized the whole programme. Sanmari volunteered at Graceland in 2011 and is still involved at with us even though she has a busy life as a student. Thank you very much for everything that all of you have done for us. We appreciate it very much.
We have our Market Day coming up on the 31st of October. Please do come and support us if you can.

We thank God for every person who has taken up time, effort and funds to bless our children at Graceland.

August News

This month the teachers at Graceland celebrated Women's day with some of the mothers of Graceland at Middelvlei farm in Stellenbosch. A special speaker from Paarl, Hawaqua Youth Prison addressed the women of Devon Valley on women and drug abuse and how to handle it and find help.  The teachers were able to engage with parents and learn something new.

Two staff members are currently taking part in an exciting Leadership and Management programme with Bronne Sentrum. It's only for the month of August but the knowledge gained will definitely add to the success of our school. Thanks to Bronne Sentrum we are able to uplift the staff and create an excellence within our management.

We also had a special visitor from the Stellenbosch Police Department who assisted us with teaching the children about PEOPLE WHO HELP US. It was amazing to see the children's response to the police as they are taught to fear the police by parents and family members. We had the opportunity to teach the children that the police are our friends on whom we can call in time of need. A big thanks to Stellenbosch Police for their excellent service.