Curriculum

The Department refers learners, between the age of 5 to 21, via the SIAS (Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support) process to Via Nova School. The enrolment in the school is 385 learners of which 241 of the learners are on the spectrum. There are 55 Educators, 9 therapists, 2 social workers, 1 psychologist, 1 intervention officer and 2 nurses that forms the Support Team of the School (SBST). The PS (Public Service) staff are in total 79 and assist in classes or on the premises.

All learners are placed in classes according to their age and level of support needed. The educators and PS Staff are ACE (Autism Centred Education) and MAKATON (Sign language) trained. They know how to plan Individualised and can support learners individually to address needs using Individual Action plans.

When learners are allocated to a class/programme a Baseline assessment is conducted to understand the needs of the learners; that forms the point of departure for teaching and learning.

The school follows the DCAPS and PID programmes and includes the following aspects within the programme to accommodate the needs of the ASD learners on top of the prescribed Language, Maths and Life Skills subjects.

• Sensory stimulation and regulation
• Social skills using social stories
• Fine and Gross motor stimulation programme
• Sexual awareness
• Understand emotions and behaviour
• Activities of Daily Living
• School to work transition programmes
• Mindfulness programmes
• Visual schedules

Teaching methodologies that all educators are using is:

• Play base teaching and learning
• Interactive approach with interactive devices
• Visuals and concrete examples
• Task boxes
• Augmentative and alternative Communication programmes
• MAKATON programme to help with communication
• Teaching Skills and through that we adress content
• Hand over hand facilitation
• ICT devices

We are using Reading Eggs, a programme to enlarge vocabulary, understanding of language and reading with comprehension. The progress that learners are making using this programme are worth mentioning. The learners are exposed to Robotics and Six bricks and it develop their Critical Thinking abilities, problem-solving and social skills.

The elective subjects for the 14 – 18 age group are agriculture, nails and beauty, office administration, maintenance and woodwork, arts and craft, consumer study: needlework and cooking.

The ADL phase is Activities of Daily Living and in this phase, educators mainly focus on equipping learners with selfcare skills for them to be able to be as independent as possible. Skills that we address are:

• Self-care – take care of hands, nails, feet, hair, body
• How to wash, hang, dry, fold, pack away clothes and how to iron the clothes
• How to use kitchen utensils
• How to wash, dry and pack away equipment in the kitchen
• How to wash, dry and polish a car
• Paper re-cycling
• How to take care of the garden
• How to make a bed
• How to clean the house

The school is piloting, in collaboration with Media Worx an AET programme (NQF Level 1), for those learners that can focus more on Academics.

The exit programme for the 18 – 21 age group develop skills that learners will need when they leave school; needlework e.g. knitting, maintenance and woodwork, entrepreneurship, carwash, agriculture, nails and beauty, production line baking, paper re-cycling, pottery, class assistants and activities of daily living.

On Thursday the learners go out for external work programmes where they are responsible for the following tasks under supervision of the Occupational Therapists; carwash, nails and beauty, work in the kitchen, laundry, cleaning of rooms, gardening, porters, basic maintenance and assist the elders doing exercise.

On Fridays the learners take turns to work in the school’s tuckshop to sell products made during the week and food prepared by the Consumer study: Cooking class

Service providers that employed our Exited Learners thus far are SPAR to work as merchandisers,

• Car watch/Security companies
• Via Nova School as Assistant Class Assistants
• PYEI programme with GDE
• Old age homes “Ons Tuiste”
• Self-employed entrepreneurs
• Silverton Service products