Bridgman Saturday School

The Bridgman Saturday School started in August 2003, from the Bridgman Centre in Zola, Soweto. The major reason to develop the Saturday School program was to bridge the gap between suburban and township high schools when it come to understanding the subject content. We wanted to increase the probability for the township students to qualify to study in their university of choice and feel confident that they are on the same par with the students in the suburban high schools.

The Bridgman Saturday school started by offering tutorial services to scholars in grades 11 to 12 (Junior and Senior) in the following subjects: English, Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting, and Business Economics. The tutorials were to assist the students in preparations for their end of year examinations. We had 15 students for the tutorials in 2003. For 2004 we decided to use a class format, with the tutor using the same curriculum the students are using at school, as this would help the students revise what they have learnt at school during the week. The Saturday school program currently has 40 students participating in the program with no fees being charged. To the subjects mentioned above, we have added a Life skills program that provides computer literacy, career assessments, career development, and social justice issues. Each of these topics is presented once a month and guest speakers are invited to present some of the topics.

There are six tutors at present. They are all university students who have sufficient knowledge of the subjects they are teaching. Some of them are doing the relevant subjects at university.

The atmosphere amongst the students and the tutors is great. One of the objectives is that the students must leave the program each Saturday having understood the work that they were doing during class, as we feel this will be enough to supplement the work he/she has done at school during the week.

The Saturday School Program has been blessed to sustain itself due to the generosity of the few sponsors, especially a grant from Global Ministries (USA). However only a third of the budget that is currently running the program for 2004 has been funded. The sponsors' generous contributions have enabled us, thus far to run the Saturday school program without charging the students any fees. The students we have enrolled cannot afford even to attend the Saturday Schools being run in the affluent suburban High Schools of Johannesburg.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Malusi Makalima - Bridgman Centre Manager malusim@telkomsa.net

Veronica Kyle - Global Ministries Staff sismiss@mweb.co.za

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