Our Programmes
supporting and Nurturing
Creative Skills Factory is a non-profit organisation that develops and runs a variety of different programmes to break the cycle of poverty in the Overstrand by engaging disadvantaged children at an early age to give them the foundation they need for educational and human development. Each programme has its own reach into under-resourced communities in the region with objectives in line with our Vision and our Mission.
Early Learning (ECD) Program
Creative Skills Factory’s Early Learning (ECD) Programmes focus on school readiness and consist of three streams – supporting children, teachers and caregivers.
ECD & Foundation Phase Programme
Small group intervention to develop the fundamental skills needed for learning. Keeping groups small allows individual attention for each child to assist them in improving their skills in the shortest time possible. Our NPO currently works with three pre-schools. Die Bron Primary School in Stanford, Funimfundo Pre-Primary School in Die Kop and Masakhane Primary School in Gansbaai.
Teacher Support & Workshops
Creative Skills Factory’s Occupational Therapist offers workshops for teachers on a variety of themes and classroom support by providing activities that tie in with the curriculum to build children’s underlying skills based on Occupational Therapy principles; Fine Motor Skills, Cross-Motor Skills, Perceptual Skills, etc. Working with the whole class, the Occupational Therapist guides and equips the teacher to continue the work with the children in her class.
Occupational Therapy for individual children with special needs is also available to the teachers.
Parents & Caregivers Workshops
Workshops are run for parents and caregivers, in collaboration with teachers, covering topics such as how to enhance your child’s development at home, demonstrating activities to do via play, how to make resources for early learning at home using everyday materials, nutrition, why children’s skills need to be developed, support in the home to name a few.
Movement Booklet - a resource for teachers & caregivers
A book of exercises for movement breaks in the classroom, published by David Krut Publishing. To order, please email us.
Extra Mural Program
Arts & Cultural Appreciation Programme
Using different forms of the cultural arts, such as music, poetry, film making, painting, mural art, theatre, dance – as tools to stimulate the development of children and youth in disadvantaged and under-resourced communities while simultaneously benefiting the people and the natural resources of the area.
The Music Programme
The Legacy of the Penny Whistle together with MIAGI – ‘Music is a great Investment’ (https://www.miagi.co.za/).
MIAGI generously makes available to the children who attend our music groups, one of South Africa’s most outstanding penny whistle virtuosos, Jack Lerole Jnr, who also is an accomplished composer, arranger and teacher. Jack teaches the girls and boys in our groups to play the penny whistle solo and in ensemble via regular online lessons with the assistance of Vuyokazi Siza, our own facilitator.
He guides their personal development with the help of the enchanting South African penny whistle music treasure.
From time-to-time,MIAGI sends Jack to us all the way from Johannesburg for special person to person lessons and workshops, and to perform at the local festivals.
The legacy of the penny whistle in South Africa, is a truly great and unique legacy. Jack Lerole Jnr is the son of legendary South African penny whistle icon, Big Voice Jack Lerole.
Creative Skills Factory is proud and excited to be part of this collaboration.
Manuel Jardine, of the Manuel Jardine Arts Foundation (https://www.facebook.com/manueljardineartsfoundation/), is a professional musician and teacher who regularly mentors the children who participate in our music group, teaching them to read music and to play the recorder, with the assistance of Vuyokazi Siza, Creative Skills Factory’s Choir Mistress who works with Manuel Jardine and the Die Kop Youth Group children throughout the year.
Small Group Artist Mentoring
Identified children and youth with talent and enthusiasm for art will be mentored in small groups by a local artist and exposed to a variety of art disciplines.
Arts & Cultural Outings
Small groups of children who are coming regularly to the existing groups will be taken on arts and cultural outings to participate and experience exhibitions and events. Examples: take them to the arts festival in Hermanus, taking them to Stanford Hills for a nature walk and painting in the forest, attend concert. Outings make sense to the overall program.
Creative Workshops (After School Program)
Community-based creative workshops for children aged between 5 to 13 years old. The workshops are run by trained community facilitators who offer a structured programme from our centre in Stanford, The Learning Tree, or from their homes and from other community places such as the Municipal Community Halls. In addition to the open workshops, the facilitators offer workshops to smaller groups of children to enhance artistic as well as social skills.
Creative School Support for Schools
Curriculum support for local schools by bringing in professional artists to the schools to teach and mentor learners in music, drama, poetry and art and to facilitate workshops for teachers covering topics such as how to teach art in confined spaces with limited materials, which art techniques to use at certain ages and how to make art using scrap materials, etc.
Our Horse Programme - Riding High
Weekly horse interaction forgroups of children aged between 10 to 18 years old. The children learn to ride horses and how to care for horses, the importance of maintaining the equipment, etc. In this programme, they are trained to be confident and responsible riders, their personal confidence is developed and they get to experience beautiful natural environments and learn to appreciate nature.
School Holiday Program
Offering a safe and stimulating space for children aged between 5 to 13 years old to come to during the school holidays where they can participate in free daily creative workshops to do activities such as such as beading, printing, painting, crafting, dancing and free movement, yoga, puppet-making and puppet shows, drumming, pottery, make-up art, creative writing, reading and storytelling. The workshops start at 10h00 and end at between 14h00 or 15h00 when the children leave with fresh fruit and some food.
Participation in these workshops keep the children safely off the streets and is the spaces filled to capacity every day.
The School-Holiday Programme follows on from the After-School Creative Workshops which runs throughout the school year. Our programme is offered in the Stanford and Masakhane (Gansbaai) communities for 1 to 2 weeks of the holidays.
Creative Skills Factory currently runs school holiday programs in Stanford and Masakhane for 1 to 2 weeks of each school holiday and we are working towards extending this Programme to more areas in the Overberg, particularly in the rural communities.
Occupational Therapy Program
Regina Broenner is a registered Occupational Therapist and provides Occupational Therapy services to individuals and groups at three primary schools in the Overberg.
In collaboration with these local schools and the teachers, learners who need additional educational support in reaching and developing all the skills necessary for entry into the school environment in Grade 1 are identified.
Every child is tested to determine their developmental stage and areas that need attention. On the basis of the testing, observation, and teacher/parent/child interviews, the Occupational Therapistplacesthe child into a working group with other children at the same developmental stage.
The programme is designed to accommodate the needs of the learners and support their individual strengths. The groups are conducted by qualified volunteers and the Occupational Therapist on-site. Through age-appropriate play and movement activities we work to enhance skills development in areas of everyday life, social, emotional and school related skills.
We have used every day occupations that occur naturally in daily living to create a child centred and natural learning environment. When designing the sessions we always keep in mind that play is the main occupation of a preschool child and therefore the most effective and natural way for learning. Examples of the activities offered are baking, gardening, block and puzzle building, group and movement games, arts and crafts, sensory play, sand and water play and outdoor play.
Each session is structured in a repetitive sequence to give the learner orientation and security for building their self confidence and trust in their own abilities. We work closely with the teachers and offer support via classroom intervention and with parents, offering them workshops on themes such as enhancing children’s healthy development in the home with simple every day tools.
Future Vision: The Play Bus
Our Play Bus will be a mobile education and play centrewith the aim of reaching schools, crèches, children and their families in urban, semi-urban and rural communitiesto offer them educational activities on a regular basis.Storytelling, roleplay, drama, crafts and physical games are examples of regular activities that can be used to educate.
The Play Bus is a project that is in developmentin partnership with various stakeholders and we hope, will be on the road in the not-too-distant future.
It will be equipped with a small library, educational games such as wooden blocks and puzzles, toys, art and craft materials, etc. and we will provide educational programmes from the bus to educate and equip children, youth and adults in life skills, health and wellness, and early childhood development.
For teenagers or youth, sex education aiming to prevent teenage pregnancies,Aids and HIV, healthy eating, just some of the topics that can be offered depending on the need of each individual community.
For parents and caregivers, workshops with themes such as how to enhance their children’s development at home, permaculture to equip families and schools with skills to grow their own food, and arts and cultural activities for personal and community development.
The Play Bus team will use creative means to educate and communicate and work in collaboration with educators, therapists, artists, and musicians to create a relatable experience for people to connect to and express themselves and their needs.
We plan for the bus to visit each community once weekly – and the Play Bus team will train a mother, a father, aunty or uncle, living in the communities we visit, who can facilitate the various activities on a continual basis between the Play Bus visits and train others to do the same.
Each activity that the Play Bus offers is led by a mother or father in the community who will be trained to facilitate the activities, for example: soccer team leader, library and storytelling time, drama group and so on. The bus visit the community once a week to share knowledge and resources, educate and equip community members as well as provide valuable team-building support for the facilitators in the community. The group leaders can then continue to classes in between the Play Bus visits.
The Play Bus will provide us with a way to reach communities who are far from educational and health centres. It will function as a mobile education centre to support and educate – the core of the Play Bus is to use creativity as a tool for transformation.
Getting Involved
If you are interested in a workshop or would like to be involved or just stay updated with our progress, we’d love to hear from you! Please email or call us, or fill in the form below and we will be in touch.
Make a Donation
Creative Skills Factory is entirely funded by the generosity of our donors. Just R150 can make a big difference in the life of some of our most vulnerable children.
Creative Skills Factory is a registered NPO and PBO and s17A certificates can be issued for all donations.