Important Facts About Penreach

• Penreach is a partnership between the broader donor and NGO communities (including corporate business, trusts and overseas foundations) and under-developed schools in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces and further afield.
• Penreach is a facilitator and catalyst in these partnerships. It upskills and develops stakeholders in under-developed schools through an holistic approach encompassing all organizational levels of a school community i.e. School Governing Bodies, School Management Teams, educators and learners.
• Penreach is endorsed by the Mpumalanga Department of Education.
• Penreach is the largest school-based, in-service education development program in Africa.
• Penreach works in poor communities, so its donors are highly valued. Donations received by the Penryn Trust (financial custodian of the Penreach and Penryn College projects) are tax deductible.
• Penreach is guiding other outreach programs in South Africa through sharing information and expertise.
• Penreach is about the voluntary participation of thousands of educators.
• Penreach supports positive change in classroom practice with easily implemented strategies.
• Penreach supports the ideals of outcomes based education implemented by the Government of the Republic of South Africa.

Success Stories
Penreach has an excellent track record of successful education delivery. Its achievements include:

• Exponential growth: Beginning as a small program for 40 educators, Penreach has grown by word of mouth only. The program does not advertise its support. It now serves over 2,000 educators from more than 900 schools, benefiting an estimated 350,000 learners each year.
• Improved teacher status: By Penreach being responsive to the needs of its beneficiaries, educator status and confidence is growing and school productivity is improving as a result.
• Developing women: Over 94% of the educators registered with Penreach are women and more than 50% are from rural communities.
• Improved school productively and discipline.
• Mathematics and Physical Science Development: More learners are taking core Mathematics and Physical Science as a result of Penreach.
• Development of IT skills: Educators and learners are developing IT skills.
• Improved matriculation results: Learners are doing increasingly better at Mathematics and Physical Science as a result of Penreach's interventions.
• Career guidance: Learners who attended the Penreach Tutorial Programs have enrolled at tertiary institutions to study for key skills degrees in South Africa such as engineering.
• Improved employment opportunities: A number of educators have been trained to facilitate at Penreach workshops - this is ongoing skills development.
• Initiation of Cluster workshops: Penreach has initiated Cluster workshops in communities, where educators meet at schools in the community to plan lessons and discuss problems together.
• Initiation of sports and cultural activities: Penreach has initiated sports and cultural activities for young learners and a Soccer Development League for youth in the Lowveld.
• House systems: Through the Principals Reaching Principals program house systems are being introduced into schools; house systems are vertical structures/groups to which learners belong. They provide schools with a means to care for their learners and for learners they provide a sense of belonging in schools. Competitions in cultural, sport and academic events also involve the house system.
• Literacy development: Penreach has developed a series of innovative, accessible and inexpensive reading books for young children which the schools purchase.
• Working libraries: Penreach has established working libraries in schools.
• NQF Level 4: Penreach is offering NQF Level 4 courses to educators who wish to formalise their training and obtain recognised certificates.
• Literacy development: Schools supported by Penreach are winning reading prizes in competitions organized by the Department of Education. Gold medals are being awarded to learners from Penreach schools at Science Expositions.

Awards: Penreach was awarded an Umsobomvu Legacy Project in 2006.

Penreach staff:

• Mrs Phutumile Dumisa, CEO of Penreach, was selected to attend a US Embassy sponsored curriculum development course at Philadelphia University in June 2005. In 2006, she was awarded a Rotary International Vocational Service Award for her work in uplifting education in the community. In 2009 Mrs Dumisa will be a Judge in the Mpumalanga “CSI Making a Difference Awards” competition.
• Mr Bailey Nkuna, the Penreach Science Fieldworker, was selected by Department of Science and Technology to attend a Science conference at the Perimeter Institute of Physics in Ontario, Canada, in July 2008.
• Ms Roster Chambale, the Penreach Primary School Project Manager, was voted best presenter at an ECD National Conference held in Limpopo Province in August 2008 for her paper on “Developing Reading Skills in the Foundation phase”.
• Physical Science and Mathematics development: In August 2009, the Department of Education in the Bohlabela District invited the Penreach Mathematics and Physical Science Department to assist with a number of the activities during National Science Week and to present motivational discussions to educators and learners at the launch of National Science Week. The Ndzalo Mobile Science Laboratory was also invited to feature at this event.
• Partnerships with NGOs and Tertiary Institutions: In 2007, Penreach and the University of the Witwatersrand piloted a successful project whereby student educators visited Penreach partner schools for two weeks to undertake their practical teaching lessons. A second group of student educators has spent time at Penreach.
• Replication of the Penreach model: Penreach's success and credibility has resulted in a number of schools in other regions of South Africa initiating their own teacher outreach programs based on the Penreach model. The Penreach model has been formally documented as a blueprint for others to use and is in its final draft stage.