Intermediate phase learners’ shopping outing
The Intermediate phase learners do a shopping outing once a term. Their trip to Cedar Square this term was on 9 May to the Pick ‘n Pay, where they were model students. Some of them displayed great confidence since the last term’s shopping outing, which was so lovely for the teachers to witness.
Shopping is part of our Maths and Life Skills curriculum, as our learners get the opportunity to use the skills they have learnt in class. These skills include appropriate greeting, handling money and following instructions.
By Estelle Henderson
Soccer matches against Chrysalis Academy
On Wednesday 22 May, we played two friendly soccer games that were both won by Chrysalis Academy remedial school. They won the first game by 2-1 and the second game was 2-0. Nkosana Mvuyane scored Unity College’s only goal.
The Chrysalis Academy was so happy being involved with Unity College that they’ve invited us for a friendly at their premises next.
By Tonic Sibanda
LSEN Mini Conference at Cedarwood
Four members of staff attended the LSEN (Learners with Special Education Needs) Mini Conference at Cedarwood College on Friday 17 May 2019.
Alison Scott (Principal at Bellavista School) proved to be a dynamic main speaker and covered the topic “When teachers are bullied”.
She highlighted the fact that bullying towards teachers is a global phenomenon. She shared different theories to give a better understanding why bullying occurs (‘bullying from the inside out’) and provided some helpful strategies on setting boundaries and the implementation of assertiveness tools within the classroom. Afterwards the delegates attended different breakaway workshops.
Some feedback and quotes from the staff that attended:
“It was insightful and empowering, the information received can be adapted for and applied at Unity.” – Nolene Oosthuizen (Speech Therapist)
“We call it special needs and yes that’s partly true, but the need that matter most to them are the ones that we have too.” – Nicole van den Berg (OT & HOD Therapy Department)
“I definitely learnt from the presentations on Friday, but I also reflected on how much Unity College has to offer to the special needs community. In the short time I have been at the school, it has been amazing to see how skilled our staff and teachers are at managing, meeting and accommodating the specific needs of the learners in our school. I truly believe that we can be proud of our school and the impact we are making in this vulnerable community.” – Debbie Röhrs (Class Teacher Senior LO)
– By Debbie Röhrs
This is where it all starts
The entry level Junior learners start in Teacher Marlize’s class, moving up to Teacher Sandy’s class. Here we make use of TEACCH task files for Language and Maths. These task files encourage the children to work independently from start to finish. Activities include shape matching, counting, beginning sounds, and many more.
By Sandy Tunbridge
My Future 4.0 Expo
A few of the Senior Phase learners attended the My Future 4.0 Expo on 16 of May 2019. It was an interesting event, looking at the 4th revolution and the impact technology will have on future career options.
The learners watched a presentation about the three industrial revolutions that have occurred. They were then exposed to information about the 4th industrial revolution and learnt about some jobs that have developed as a result, as well as got an idea of jobs that may exist in the future.
It was interesting to get a glimpse of what the world of work might look like in the near future and how important it is for us to start preparing our learners for these changes.
If you would like to see more about the event, have a look at their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/myfuture4.0/