HeronBridge Training and Resource Centre equips teachers
FOURWAYS – The HeronBridge Training and Resource Centre (HTRC) is a non-profit organisation which works on educating and upskilling community teachers as well as granting them a qualification with the aim to help enrich the community.
The centre focuses on a strong correlation between sustainability and the upliftment of people and communities. Their vision is to equip and empower teachers from disadvantaged communities through education and training. To this end, they have established their training and resource centre to provide teacher training in an equipped environment which enhances the teachers’ teaching experiences and abilities.
Teachers are able to attend tutorials and training three days a week, and supplementary workshops are held twice a year. At the workshops, the teachers are taught how to make resources for their schools and their teaching programmes.
The centre facilitates training and the provision of training material through their association with Love Trust and Teacher’s Learning Centre. They offer Level 4 and Level 5 courses in Early Child Development (ECD) and teach an ECD GDE approved curriculum which is accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority.
Each new group enrols 20 new teachers, which equates to 20 preschools on the programme per group. At the end of each two-year programme, the centre celebrates what the teachers have achieved with a graduation ceremony.
The centre’s objective is to provide educational resources for use out in the community schools via a library system. In addition, the teachers have access to course-related books, teacher training material, theme books and other relevant resources. The resources include paint, glue and stationery as well as games and learning aids for indoor and outdoor learning areas.
The teachers learn to create resources from waste material to supplement the resources provided by the centre, which are then utilised in the classrooms.
Through their involvement with HeronBridge College, the centre supports the worldwide initiative, Stop Hunger Now, an international hunger-relief programme that has been fulfilling its commitment to end hunger for many years, as they try to ensure that 520 children from seven schools are provided with a meal every day for an entire year, as part of their ongoing commitment.
Details: claubscher@heronbridge.co.za; info@htrc.org.za; 072 227 7769.
