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Update on Folweni High school!
Update on Folweni High school!
We have been supporting Folweni High school in Durban, South Africa since 2015 with the Star for Life program. They are a non-profit organization that provides programs to young people. These programs are aimed to empower impoverished young people, provide HIV prevention, strengthen students’ self-esteem and a belief in the future where their dreams can come true. We hope that through our support, Star for Life will be successful in their programs at Folweni High school. We have received the latest report on Folweni High school during the period of March 2017 to September 2017 and would like to share their progress!
To provide the best education, learning skills and life lessons, Star for Life has helped to educate the teachers and principal so that they can pass along the best messages to the students. To do this, the principal of Folweni High school has attended a leadership development workshop, and they have had three school management team meetings to strengthen teamwork and staff. The teachers have attended workshops in effective leadership skills, how to provide quality education, and share ideas with other teachers to facilitate better teamwork.
Five students from Folweni High school attended a peer education camp where they learned about living a healthy lifestyle for young people. The camp was designed to empower the students with skills in how to teach other students the knowledge they had gained, and help them to contribute to educational campaigns in the future.
At Folweni, they had an inspirational learner workshop to empower youth. As well as one-on-one consultations with Star for Life social workers for learners who have challenges in their studies. Classroom sessions were held for the grade 8 class for issues with self-esteem, career, life dreams, health and other life skills for the students. For the grade 9 class, special classroom sessions were held concerning anger management and empathy, as there were a couple of fighting incidences amongst a couple of students. They held a parent meeting for the grade 9 class to discuss proper parenting, delinquency and to engage parents to work together with teachers. The meeting helped parents learn how to overlook their childs school work, and how they could encourage their children to have a positive change mind-set.
For the grade 8 and 9 classes, drug awareness talks were provided to them to reduce drug use among the students. They held a learner’s workshop in career guidance for the grade 12 and 9 classes, where parents were welcomed to join so they could be able to help their children with choosing the appropriate subjects in their career paths.
The students at Folweni High school are affected by their living conditions and surroundings. In many of their communities, crime and violence exist, as well as poverty. These issues can unfortunately spill over into the school, and are some of the challenges that Star for Life experiences when working with the students. Despite these issues, Star for Life reports that many of the students are showing high levels of commitment towards their education.
Star for Life has noticed that the activities and workshops have been implemented successfully at Folweni High school. The workshops have contributed significantly towards the student’s academic performance and attitude towards life in general. The students face many challenges in their daily life, but Star for Life is hopeful for a continued positive change throughout the school. They believe the students will continue to move onward and upwards in a positive direction. We think that Star for Life has done a great job with the students at Folweni High school, and feel that the students have been engaged, interested and taken lots of valuable knowledge from the Star for Life program! Keep up the great work Folweni High school!
