Services
Curriculum Facilitation
What is curriculum facilitation?
As a home-based learning facilitation centre, the Learning Centre of Hope and its junior campus, Vineyard House Learning Centre, offer structure and assistance required by students of all ages and levels of education from Grade 7 to 12 to work their way through their designated curricula. The Learning Centre of Hope and Vineyard House Learning Centre are not registered schools and do not operate as schools.
Learning assistance is provided in the form of a physical environment conducive to investigation, research and learning, and directing students towards the resources at their disposal for investigating concepts and ideas and finding solutions to problems. This type of learning is active learning as opposed to the passive learning of a mainstream learning environment. Specialised tutorials will be arranged as deemed necessary by the facilitators.
There will be more hands-on tutoring with children in lower grades and this will be reduced as the learner progresses up the scholastic ladder. The aim is to create a self-discovery and self-learning work ethic where learners take responsibility for their own learning. The structures and support which they require along the way will be provided in terms of administrative assistance, tutor support, and parent interaction and consultations as often as necessary.
All tutoring and facilitation will be based on the home-based learning curriculum chosen for the student by the parents. It should be noted that the parent is primarily responsible for the home-based learning of their child(ren). The learning centre acts as a support structure for the students’ learning process.
In the FET phase (Grade 10 – 12) the students are required to be registered with SACAI, via the curriculum provider. They are also required to write their Term 1 & 3 Test Series, their June and November Examinations (Grade 10 – 12) and Preliminary Examinations (Grade 12 only) at a tutor centre.
In terms of the South African Education Act, home education remains the responsibility of the parent. The Learning Centre of Hope and Vineyard House are therefore not registered schools but learning support centres which offer support and structure to students whose parents wish to home school them, but for various reasons, require assistance and/or support in ensuring that their child/children cover the prerequisites of their curriculum of choice. For greater understanding of the laws governing home education in South Africa, please go to www.education.gov.za
Curriculum Choices
Curriculum choices and purchases are deemed the responsibility of the parents but can be done in consultation with the Learning Centre of Hope. The three primary curriculum providers which are being used are Love 2 Learn / Imperial International College and Impaq.
· Love 2 Learn / Imperial International College provides a very flexible curriculum and as such, requires that the learner be very self-motivated and disciplined. It prepares the learner for IGCSE (Grade 10 & 11) and AS Level Examinations (Grade 12). These examinations are written either at the International School of Cape Town (in Claremont) or at the El Shaddai Christian School (in Durbanville) and are administered and moderated by Cambridge University in England.
Read more at www.love2learn.co.za
· Impaq provides a more structured curriculum. It prepares the learner for the National Senior Certificate Final Examinations (Grade 12) which are written by all Grade 12 students attending government schools in South Africa. It implements the current government schools’ curriculum commonly known as the CAPS curriculum. Final Examinations are written at SACAI registered examination centre.
Read more at www.impaq.co.za
There are several alternative curriculum providers which have emerged over the past few years. Should there be sufficient interest in using the products provided by an alternative curriculum provider, we would be willing to investigate the viability of extending our services to include these alternative curriculum providers.
Online school curriculum supervision services:
The emergence of several online schools has provided parents with the opportunity of home schooling their children in a remote classroom setting. The most prevalent online schools are currently:
o Teneo
o Impaq Online School
o UCT Online High School
o Think Digital
o Cambrilearn
Students registered with any of the online schools above may attend the Learning Centre daily or on specific days as deemed necessary by their parent(s). They will be provided with a quiet environment in which to attend their online classes and work on their various submissions with full access to reliable Wi-Fi connection and administrative support. All equipment required for their school attendance will be the responsibility of the parents (laptop and headphones). Admission of an online school student will be based on availability of space as space is very limited.
What is the difference between online school and home-based learning?
· Online school is like mainstream school, the only difference being that the student is seated in front of their PC/Laptop and attends lessons in a virtual classroom. Lesson times are fixed, and the timetable is predetermined by the online school service provider.
· Home based learning is self-motivated learning and can be done online or by using traditional books or as a combination of both. The supervision and monitoring of home-based learning needs to be done by the parent or a tutor centre.
Facilitation Fees
In January 2021 a second campus was opened to facilitate the curricula for Grade 7 – 9 students. This campus is known as Vineyard House Learning Centre. The Grade 10 – 12 students remained at the original campus, known as The Learning Centre of Hope. In January 2023 Vineyard House was relocated back to the same property as Centre of Hope. The two centres continue to operate in separate sections of the venue and each has their own centre manager.
All payments and bookkeeping for Centre of Hope go through The New Learning Centre of Hope (Pty) Ltd.
All payments and bookkeeping for Vineyard House go through The New Vineyard House Learning Centre (Pry) Ltd
Fees are payable over 12 months (January to December) but may be paid annually or quarterly. Discounted rates are given to those parents who choose to pay annually or quarterly. Discounted rates will have a ceiling in terms of the number of parents making use of these discounts and will be allowed on a first come first served basis. Grade 12 Fees may be paid over 10, 11 or 12 months.
Facilitation Fees are payable in advance, by the 5th day of every month. Parents are required to complete and sign an annual registration form which includes a commitment to making the required payments to the learning centre before a student will be accepted by the learning centre. Please note that should a student’s fees be unpaid for 30 days, he/she will be suspended from the learning centre until such time as full payment has been received, or until a repayment arrangement has been signed between the parent and the learning centre.
A non-refundable registration fee is payable upon acceptance of a student into the learning centre and before the student attends their first day at the learning centre.
Term Dates & Hours
· As far as possible, term dates will coincide with term dates as set out by SACAI. However, at the discretion of the Learning Centre of Hope, additional days may be taken, particularly for the two shorter holidays in March/April and September/October.
· The Learning Centre hours are from 08:00 to 14:00, Monday to Thursday, and 08:00 to 12:30 on Fridays. Early drop off is available by prior arrangement from 07:00.
· Grade 10, 11 & 12 students will be required to attend afternoon tutorials as required. These sessions will run from 14:00 to 16:00. Students will be notified ahead of time regarding these sessions
Code of Conduct
All students and their parents are required to sign the Learning Centre’s Code of Conduct upon acceptance of a student into the Learning Centre.
Refreshments
Tea, coffee and cool drink is available before school and during lunch break. The cost of these refreshments is included in the facilitation fees.
A fridge and a microwave oven are available for the students to use.
Stationery & Printing
All stationery, including pens, pencils, mathematical sets, colouring crayons, highlighters, examination pads, printing paper, and exercise books must be provided by the parents in accordance with the requirements of the grade level and curriculum prerequisites. Stationery Lists are available for the various Grade Groups and will be sent out once an application form has been submitted.
Each student is encouraged to have his/her own laptop or tablet, although this is not mandatory, except in the case of students doing Computer Application Technology as an elective subject in Grade 10 – 12.
Tasks may be emailed to the relevant tutor if the student wishes to have their task printed at the Learning Centre.