The School
The school was established at Karl Bremer hospital in 1959 as a “one-teacher-with-two-baskets-school”. When Tygerberg Hospital was completed the school moved over in 1973.
For many years we only had a small office and an equally small art class and storeroom. The teachers went to the wards, taking their teaching aids on trollies and taught the children at their bedsides.
Adri Maritz, principal 1997 – 2006, had a vision for larger premises and after a tremendous struggle and with the help of various donors the current school was opened in 2004 .
Since the school is resident in Tygerberg Hospital and provides an essential service to Tygerberg’s child patients, the school and our trust are partners and collaborate around raising awareness and fundraising campaigns.
The curriculum at the school focuses on perceptual development, mathematics/numeracy, language /literacy, life orientation, art and computer skills. The aim of this curriculum is to keep patients from falling behind with their schoolwork.
Ithuba unit is one of a kind. Working with learners with mental health disabilities. The form part of our vulnerable population.
Our bridging program offers the learners to fully recover before they go back into a stressful society.
We have helped learners go back and achieve their Matric Certificate. Learners when to North link Collage with bursaries. For those learners who struggles we offer the Adult Base Education program.
We are a comprehensive package of care.
Collaboration between Health and Education.
Stepping Stones Grade R class is a unique setup. Learners are referred through the Neurology department of the Tygerberg Hospital to our class. We are a one stop shop – Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy and Psychologist to give advice and assistance. Looking at the Holistic Care of the child.
Children in the hospital don’t pay school fees. They don’t come to hospital with their school bags or stationery. We have to provide everything.
ITHUBA UNIT
Our psychiatric unit (Ithuba) was established in 2004 to accommodate a maximum of 12 pupils (up to grade 12) other psychiatric illnesses. They are aided to be integrated back into mainstream school, college, labour market and the community.
In 2011 the academic program of Ithuba changed. We started with the Adult Education and Training stream. We introduced level 4 which is equivalent of a Grade 9. In this way we could accommodate the specific needs of the learners with Psychiatric disorders who has dropped out of school.
We still adhere to the Curriculum of Grade 8 to 12. As we are a bridging facility. The four compulsory subjects Languages, Maths and Maths Literacy as well as Life Orientation is priority. We maintain their school subjects as far as possible.
Tygerberg Hospital School as a whole works in multi-disciplinary teams which include doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social workers and nursing staff.
APRAXIA CLASSES
In 2013 the School started with 2 Grade R classes for learners with Apraxia. There are an Afrikaans and an English class with 10 learners per class. We follow the National Curriculum Statement and prepare the learners through a language approach. We have 2 class teachers and 2 class assistants.
HOSPITAL CLASSES
All learners in the Tygerberg Hospital are part of the school either coming to our school or are being taught at their beds.
The whole rationale behind a hospital school is for learners not to fall behind with their education while they are in the hospital. Emotionally it also provides HOPE of the learners. They get confronted with trauma while they are in hospital. To take them out of the wards and bring them to the school where they are treated as learners and not patients, provide the necessary social and emotional support.